annual report 2007 - TWAS · 2013. 9. 13. · Jacob Palis President TWAS. FOREWORD_ TWAS ANNUAL REPORT 2007 closely not only with our partners in the South but also with our colleagues

2007a n n u a l r e p o r t

TWAS COUNCIL

President

Jacob Palis (Brazil)

Immediate Past President

C.N.R. Rao (India)

Vice Presidents

Jorge E. Allende (Chile)

Chunli Bai (China)

Romain Murenzi (Rwanda)

Atta-ur-Rahman (Pakistan)

Ismail Serageldin (Egypt)

Secretary General

Dorairajan Balasubramanian (India)

Treasurer

José L. Morán López (Mexico)

Council Members

Ali Abdullah Al Shamlan

Eugenia del Pino Veintimilla

Reza Mansouri

Keto Mshigeni

Abdul H. Zakri

Ex-officio Member (Director, ICTP)

Katepalli Sreenivasan

Contents

Foreword 7

Year in Review 9

TWAS in Trieste 12

PROGRAMMES

Core Programmes

Trieste Science Prize 20

TWAS Prizes: Honouring Scientists 22

TWAS Prizes for Young Scientists 32

Associateships Scheme 36

South-South Fellowships 38

TWAS Research Professors 40

Research Grants for Individuals 42

Research Grants for Groups 44

Public Information 46

Collaborative Programmes

Partnerships 48

Regional Offices 52

TWAS Family 58

APPENDICES 2007 in Figures 64

T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7

Foreword

We live in an era that places a premium on both global knowledge and global competition.

Together, these issues make the role of science and technology more critical than

ever.

TWAS is addressing the challenges posed by the increasingly seamless interface

between science, technology and innovation in a number of ways. First and fore-

most, the Academy is dedicated to building scientific excellence across the devel-

oping world. Indeed, the pursuit of scientific excellence has been TWAS’s primary

goal since the Academy’s inception, and it remains its primary goal today. This

dedication is seen not only in the new members that are elected into the Acade-

my each year, but also in our selection of prize winners and the recipients of our

research grants and our fellowship awards. I am proud to say that these and oth-

er programmes testify to an impressive list of accomplishments for the Academy.

But if TWAS is to continue to have a strong impact on science and development in

the developing world in the future, then we must strive to do even more.

Among the major challenges that lie ahead as we move towards our 25th anniver-

sary in 2008 are:

• To continue to expand our programmes for South-South cooperation, most

notably our fellowship programme for postgraduate and postdoctoral training.

• To develop and enhance programmes that address the needs of scientists and

scientific institutions that have been left behind. This means, for

example, paying special attention to the career opportuni-

ties of women scientists and focusing on such regions

as sub-Saharan Africa.

• To expand our efforts to help young scientists in the

developing world. The Regional Conferences for Young

Scientists programme that we initiated in 2006 is a note-

worthy beginning in this effort, as is the election in 2007 of

24 Young Affiliate Fellows to the ranks of TWAS. But more

needs to be done. The Academy’s destiny lies not only in

geographical and gender diversity; it also lies in

demographic diversity. Youth, in short, must be

served if the future of science and society is to

be served.

• To position ourselves in the centre of the

global world of science that is unfolding

before our very eyes. This means working

T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 _ F O R E W O R D

Jacob Palis

President

TWAS

F O R E W O R D _ T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7

closely not only with our partners in the South but also with our colleagues in the

North.

To expand on this last point, science must be promoted as a global enterprise with

global benefits. The sense of kinship shared by many developing countries

already drives them to pool their efforts, wedded by comparable levels of skill and

circumstances. This cooperation has been enhanced by the increasing number of

developing countries that have recently experienced rapid growth in scientific

competency. These countries now find themselves in a position of effectively

cooperating not only with other developing nations with similar levels of scientif-

ic capacity, but also with developing countries that, for a number of reasons, have

not kept pace with global advances in science and technology. In effect, they are

helping to build scientific and technological capacity across the developing world.

In such an environment, ‘cooperation’ replaces ‘aid’ as the primary driver of devel-

opment.

Thanks to the universality of science, however, South-South cooperation does not

preclude South-North cooperation. In fact, South-South cooperation could well

improve the effectiveness of South-North cooperation through the successful cre-

ation of trilateral arrangements in which developing countries with less scientific

capacity interact with developing countries with greater scientific capacity, espec-

ially within the same region. The more scientifically proficient developing coun-

tries, in turn, can interact on a more equal footing with developed countries. A

variety of critical issues, including climate change, energy research and develop-

ment, and the curbing of infectious diseases could lend themselves to such an

approach – the creation of truly global networks of scientific research.

Solving critical global issues, which impact on every person on the planet, will

require scientists in both the South and North to embrace the era of global knowl-

edge and use global competition to spur development in a positive way. Only by

working together in an environment that rewards excellence and addresses criti-

cal social needs can we hope to improve the well-being of both science and socie-

ty in the developing world. In a world where knowledge reigns, cooperation and

competition are not in conflict. Quite the opposite – they are both part of the same

equation for success.

8

T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 _ T H E Y E A R I N R E V I E W

It has been another successful year for TWAS. Not only has the Academy recorded increased

demand for its core programmes, it has also been busy developing and imple-

menting new programmes.

The standard measure for all TWAS activities has been – and continues to be –

excellence. Excellence in the winners of our various prize schemes, excellence in

the recipients of our research grants and excellence in the awardees of our South-

South Fellowships.

So what does it mean to pursue scientific excellence in 2007 and beyond, and

how is the Academy seeking to achieve it?

First, it means continuing to elect the most eminent scientists from the develop-

ing world as members of TWAS. The accomplishments of the 45 scientists elect-

ed members of the Academy in 2007 speak directly to the Academy’s quest for

excellence, while their diversity signals TWAS’s commitment to the entire devel-

oping world. The Academy’s 45 new members include outstanding scientists from

countries currently under-represented in our 880-strong membership, such as

Mongolia, Sudan and Venezuela, as well as – for the first time ever – Oman.

Second, it means both honouring and rewarding the best science in the develop-

ing world through prizes and awards. That is why we are so pleased to continue to

award the Trieste Science Prize, generously funded by illycaffè S.p.A., which is

designed to honour the developing world’s top scientists alongside our other

awards in eight scientific disciplines and our Prizes to Young Scientists.

Third, it means ensuring that we provide opportunities to recognize the work of

young scientists. That is why I am especially pleased to announce that, in 2007,

through its five regional offices, the Academy elected its first 24 Young Affiliate

Fellows. These excellent scientists, all under the age of 40, come from 21 devel-

oping countries. The positive response of TWAS members to the 15 Young Affili-

ates who attended our 18th General Meeting in Trieste and the mentorship that

these young scientists will receive through their links with TWAS will benefit the

future of science in developing countries – especially as we aim to have 125 such

Young Affiliates on board within five years.

And, fourth, one of the most important functions that TWAS – indeed any science

academy – can have is to advise governments on critical issues related to sci-

ence-based development. That is why we continue to work closely with the Inter-

Academy Panel on International Issues (IAP), based in Trieste, especially as the

lead academy on its ‘Capacity Building for Science Academies’ programme (see

pages 60-61).

Mohamed H.A. Hassan

Executive Director

TWAS

2007:The Year in Review

9

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Among the highlights of TWAS’s 2007 activities were:

• South-South Fellowships programme. A total of 105 South-South Fellowships

were awarded, the highest ever annual total, of which 96 were accepted. These Fel-

lowships are provided in collaboration with partner organizations in Brazil, China,

India and Pakistan. Together, these initiatives comprise the world’s largest South-

South Fellowship programme (see pages 38-39 and 65).

• Grants for Research Units from Science and Technology-lagging Countries.

TWAS’s Grants for Research Units in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) programme

was launched in 2002. Initially a relatively small programme aimed at just the

world’s 50 LDCs, with support from the Swedish International Development

Cooperation Agency’s Department for Research Cooperation (Sida/SAREC), the

programme has now been opened up to an additional 27 countries deemed to be

lagging behind in their scientific and technological capacities. With more secure

funding, TWAS is now able to expand the opportunities provided under this

increasingly popular programme (see pages 44-45 and 65).

• Trieste Science Prize. On 3 May 2007, TWAS and illycafè S.p.A., the commercial

sponsor of the Trieste Science Prize, announced the names of the third round of

‘Trieste Laureates’: Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella, Mexico, and Goverdan Mehta, India,

in the fields of agricultural and chemical sciences, respectively. The two winners

attended a ceremony in Trieste, held during a four-day international science media

fair, FEST, in May 2007, and presented their work at the TWAS 18th General Meeting

held in Trieste in November 2007 (see pages 20-21).

• TWAS 18th General Meeting. The TWAS 18th General Meeting, originally scheduled

to be held in Pakistan, was moved to Trieste owing to political uncertainty in Pak-

istan. The meeting was attended by some 200 scientists from 44 countries.

Among the highlights of the meeting were the election of 45 eminent scientists to

the Academy, the induction of the first group of TWAS Young Affiliates, and the

announcement of the winners of the 2007 TWAS Prizes (see pages 12-17).

• Increased outreach. A plenary lecture presented to more than 2,000 delegates

attending the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of

Science (AAAS) in San Francisco, USA, in February 2007, illustrated the growing

gap between such scientifically advanced developing nations as China and coun-

tries that are lagging scientifically. The lecture led to requests from two leading

international journals, Science and Cell, for commentaries examining these gaps

in scientific capacity and highlighting ways of tackling them. These outreach activ-

ities have given the Academy unprecedented visibility among the global scientif-

ic community and a far wider audience than it has had in the past.

T H E Y E A R I N R E V I E W _ T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7

T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 _ T H E Y E A R I N R E V I E W

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• Regional prizes. In line with TWAS’s increased outreach activities and the Acad-

emy’s dedication to honouring excellence, in 2006, three regional prizes were

established, to be awarded on a rotating basis by each of the five TWAS Regional

Offices. The winners of the first of these prizes, for the ‘Public Understanding and

Popularization of Science’, were announced during the TWAS 18th General Meeting

(see pages 12-17 and 57).

• Cities, Science and Sustainability. TWAS teamed up once again with the United

Nations Development Programme Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (UNDP-

SSC) and the United Nations University - Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS)

to organize the ninth in a series of ‘Sharing Innovative Experiences’ workshops.

This workshop focused on ‘Cities, Science and Sustainability’. The 18 case studies

presented during the workshop will be published in 2009 (see pages 48-49).

• Capacity building in the geosciences. In 2006, TWAS teamed up with FORGEA-

International, a geo-mining and environmental training and cooperation centre

based in Sardinia, Italy, to organize four workshops, three of which were held in

early 2007. In total, the four workshops provided state-of-the-art training for 86

students and middle-level professionals from North Africa, the Middle East, the

Balkans and eastern Europe (see pages 49-50).

• TWAS-UNESCO Associateship scheme. This programme, which provides scien-

tists in developing countries with opportunities to develop long-term links with

more than 100 centres of excellence in the South, is becoming increasingly pop-

ular. In 2007, 17 scientists were selected for the award, which allows them to make

two visits to their selected host institution during a three-year period. In 2007, 44

associateship awardees visited institutions in nine developing countries (see

pages 36-37 and 64).

• Endowment fund. During 2007, the TWAS endowment fund passed its initial tar-

get of US$10 million. The fund, which is intended to bring long-term security to

TWAS, now has a target of US$25 million. A campaign to help us attain this goal will

be launched in 2008.

This brief overview of TWAS’s 2007 activities demonstrates that the Academy con-

tinues to advance on a variety of fronts but always with the over-riding aim of

encouraging countries in the South to strive towards excellence when developing

their indigenous scientific capacity and by directly supporting their efforts.

TWAS’s 18th General Meeting, originally scheduled to take place in Islam-

abad, was moved to Trieste due to the political uncertainty and unrest in Pak-

istan. Plans to change the venue began in September in the face of rising ten-

sions in Pakistan. Conference participants arrived in Trieste in mid-Novem-

ber, less than two weeks after Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president,

declared a state of emergency.

Highlights of the meeting included:

• The election of 45 new members to the Academy. The class of 2007,

which includes scientists from Mongolia, Oman (for the first time ever),

Sudan and Venezuela, were chosen from a candidate pool of nearly 200 sci-

entists nominated by current members. “The 2007 candidates,” noted

C.N.R. Rao, immediate past president of TWAS, “constituted the best pool

of candidates that the Academy has ever had to consider. The high level of

accomplishment represented by these scientists made the selection process

difficult. But it also helped to ensure that those who were chosen were

among the most eminent scientists in the developing world and therefore

TWAS in Trieste

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TWAS’s 18th General Meeting was held on the campus of the Abdus Salam International Centre for

Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, from 13-14 November 2007. Nearly 200

scientists from 44 countries – the majority of whom were members of TWAS –

attended.

the engineering sciences: Chang Chun-Yen, National

Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, China; in

mathematics: Claudio Landim, Instituto de Matematica

Pura and Aplicada, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and in

physics: Dipankar Das Sarma (TWAS Fellow 2007),

Centre for Advanced Materials, Indian Association for

the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata.

• A symposium, led by Atta-ur-Rahman (TWAS Fellow

1985), head of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission

and former Minister of Science and Technology, on the

current state of science and technology in Pakistan.

• A lecture, by Pervez Hoodbhoy, professor of nuclear

physics and chair of the physics department at Quaid-i-

Azam University, Islamabad, on the state of science

education with a focus on the current state of affairs in

Pakistan. Hoodbhoy attended the conference to receive

the first-ever TWAS-ROCASA (Regional Office for Cen-

tral and South Asia) award for contributions to the pub-

lic understanding and popularization of science. The

winners of the other regional awards, each of whom

received a US$3,000 cash prize, were also announced at

the conference (see page 57).

worthy of this honour.” Among the 45 new members

are eight women scientists, marking the largest number

of women ever elected to TWAS in a single year. The

Academy’s membership now totals 880, representing

90 countries.

• The granting – for the first time in the history of the

Academy – of TWAS Young Affiliate status to 24

promising scientists under the age of 40 who live and

work in developing countries. Each of TWAS’s region-

al offices selected up to five Young Affiliates, 15 of

whom attended the conference to be welcomed into the

TWAS family and to present their research. Topics

ranged from innovative applications of forensic DNA

analysis in the Philippines to an examination of

whether advances in nanotechnology could soon help

medical practitioners diagnose diseases in Ethiopia and

other nations in sub-Saharan Africa. “Listening to these

young scientists explain their research,” noted TWAS

president Jacob Palis, “confirms that high-level scientif-

ic knowledge is taking hold at universities and research

centres throughout the developing world”. The Young

Affiliates programme is one of several initiatives that

TWAS plans to pursue in the coming years to help

ensure that the next generation of scientists in the

developing world receives the recognition and support

that they need and deserve.

• The presentation of TWAS Prizes to seven eminent

scientists from the developing world: in the agricultur-

al sciences: Heong Kong-Luen, International Rice

Research Institute, Los Baños, Philippines; in biology:

Pedro Leòn-Azofeifa, National Centre for Advanced

Technologies, San José, Costa Rica; in chemistry: Che

Chi-Ming, University of Hong Kong, China; in the earth

sciences: Rengaswamy Ramesh (TWAS Fellow 2007),

Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India; in

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• Presentations by the 2007 Trieste Science Prize win-

ners: Luis Herrera-Estrella (TWAS Fellow 2004), Labo-

ratorio Nacional de Genómica para la Biodiversidad,

Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados, Cam-

pus Guanajuato, Mexico, who won in the category of

agricultural sciences, and Goverdhan Mehta (TWAS

Fellow 1993), Department of Organic Chemistry, Indian

Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, who won in the

chemical sciences. The Trieste Science Prize is gener-

ously funded by the Trieste-based illycaffè S.p.A., one of

the world’s pre-eminent coffee manufacturers. Ernesto

Illy, the patriarch of illycaffè and a gifted scientist and

strong supporter of Trieste’s scientific institutions,

attended the event. Herrera-Estrella spoke about his

ground-breaking studies of the soil bacterium, Agrobac-

terium tumefaciens, which led to the development of

the first transgenic crops that are now grown on 100

million hectares in 20 different countries. Mehta spoke

about the science of organic synthesis, and especially

the use of natural products that can serve as platforms

for the discovery of new compounds with novel phar-

maceutical activities (see pages 20-21).

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• A TWAS 2007 Medal Lecture presented by Hernán

Chaimovich (TWAS Fellow 2000), Departamento de

Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São

Paulo, Brazil. Chaimovich spoke about molecules with

hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties that enable

them to associate spontaneously in solvents, including

water. “Such molecules,” he noted, “can assume diverse

shapes ranging from single layers to bubbles to

spheres.” In addition to the intellectual challenges that

these molecules pose for basic science (related to stud-

ies of surfaces and complexity), they also hold promise

in such areas of applied science as drug delivery and oil

extraction.

• The selection of the TWAS Medal Lectures for 2008:

José de la Peña (TWAS Fellow 2003), professor, Institu-

to de Matemáticas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de

México; M.R.S. Rao (TWAS Fellow 2002), president,

Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific

Research, Bangalore; Anwar Nasim (TWAS Fellow

1987), science advisor, OIC Standing Committee on Sci-

entific and Technological Cooperation, Islamabad; and

Keto Mshigeni (TWAS Fellow 1987), vice chancellor,

Hubert Kairuki Memorial University, Dar es Salaam,

Tanzania. The latter two scientists had been selected to

deliver Medal Lectures in 2007 but were unable to

attend the meeting in Trieste. The Council agreed to

move their awards ceremony and presentations to the

2008 General Meeting in Mexico.

• The convening of the first ‘exchange’ meeting among

the coordinators of TWAS’s five regional offices,

chaired by TWAS president Jacob Palis. Varadacharai

Krishnan (TWAS Fellow 1996), Hindustan Lever

research professor at Jawaharal Nehru Centre for

Advanced Scientific Research, represented the Region-

al Office for Central and South Asia (TWAS-ROCASA)

in Bangalore; Iba Kone, acting executive director,

African Academy of Sciences, represented the Regional

Office for Sub-Saharan Africa (TWAS-ROSSA) in Nairo-

bi, Kenya; Yonglong Lu, director-general, Bureau of

International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Sci-

ences, represented the Regional Office for East and

Southeast Asia and the Pacific (TWAS-ROESEAP) in

Beijing; Carlos Aragão de Carvalho, director, Scientific

and Technological Funding Agency of the Brazilian

Academy of Sciences and professor of physics at Uni-

versidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, represented the

TWAS Regional Office for Latin America and the

Caribbean (TWAS-ROLAC) in Rio de Janeiro; and

Mohamed M. El-Faham, director of the Centre of Spe-

cial Studies and Programmes, Bibliotheca Alexandrina,

represented the Arab Regional Office (TWAS-ARO) in

Alexandria, Egypt. The broad-ranging discussions

examined strategies for publicizing TWAS events and

activities; procedures for the selection of regional prize

winners and Young Affiliates; better ways to identify

excellent scientists, especially in nations that are not

well represented in the Academy; efforts to foster clos-

er ties between TWAS regional offices and national

chapters through joint activities and programmes; and

opportunities for maximizing the communication

opportunities afforded by the internet. “The TWAS

regional offices are beginning to fulfil their promise as

institutions that not only extend the reach of the Acad-

emy but also make significant contributions in their

own right,” noted TWAS executive director, Mohamed

H.A. Hassan.

• The approval by TWAS members of the Academy’s

revised statutes and bylaws. Juan Roederer (TWAS

Associate Fellow 1991) headed the Academy’s statutes

and bylaws committee, which benefitted from the

expertise of Albert Koers, an eminent law professor

who served as the executive director of the InterAcade-

my Council (IAC) from 2001 to 2005. The new statutes

and bylaws herald the transformation of the Academy

from a small institution, where decisions have often

been made on an informal ad hoc basis, into a large and

sophisticated organization requiring a more formal

structural framework. Thus, the revised statutes and

bylaws will help guide the Academy in the years ahead

as the level of its activities and range of operations con-

tinue to expand.

Like all previous General Meetings, TWAS members

were given the opportunity to express their opinions


1 5

and concerns during a two-hour membership meeting.

As in previous such meetings, the members had no

shortage of ideas and comments on how the Academy

might strengthen its activities and programmes.

All those who spoke agreed that the Academy was

making an important mark on scientific and technolog-

ical development in the developing world and that the

organization was well positioned to do even more in

the future.

Syed Muhammad Qaim

(TWAS Fellow 2001), Institut

für Nuklear-chemie, Jülich,

Germany, and Vincent Pryde

Titanji (TWAS Fellow 2004),

vice chancellor, University of

Buea, Cameroon, both expressed

admiration for the accomplish-

ments of TWAS. Both, howev-

er, suggested that the Academy should do more to help

scientists and scientific institutions in least developed

countries (LDCs). Mohamed Hassan agreed that limited

funding posed a significant handicap that had affected

the Academy’s ability to help scientists most in need.

He added that the problem would be addressed – and

hopefully alleviated to a degree – thanks to the renewal

of funding from the Swedish International Develop-

ment Cooperation Agency (Sida) that will allow the

Academy to award more grants to research units at a

level of US$30,000 instead of US$10,000 (the standard

level of funding for individual scientists). The three-

year funding extension from Sida will enable TWAS to

fund some 20 new research units a year for the next

three years in the world’s least developed and scientifi-

cally lagging countries.

Atta-ur-Rahman (TWAS Fellow 1985), chair of the

Commission of Higher Education in Pakistan, noted

that a growing number of developing countries were

making steady progress in building their scientific and

technological capacities, but that significant barriers

often remain stubbornly in place when it comes to

transforming this expanding knowledge base into prod-

ucts and services that add jobs and wealth to a nation’s

economy. He suggested that TWAS consider launching

a broad-based initiative to support and honour science-

based innovation – an initiative that could take place in

partnership with such organizations as the Organiza-

tion of Islamic Conference’s Standing Committee on

Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COM-

STECH) and the United Nations University (UNU). The

goal would be to assist and honour those who were suc-

cessfully overcoming the obstacles impeding the trans-

fer of research findings to the marketplace and would

focus on such issues as the protection of intellectual

property rights; the development of technology parks

and business incubators; and the expansion of private-

sector investment in research and development. Other

members expressed support for the idea and urged the

Academy to consider instituting such measures after

undertaking additional studies and exploring potential

sources of funding.

Jorge Eduardo Allende (TWAS Fellow 1985), profes-

sor, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, University of

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1 6

Chile, inquired whether the Academy could take steps

to shield its budget from the devaluation of the dollar,

especially considering that, while TWAS’s revenues

arrived in dollars, most of the organization’s staff costs

and operational expenses were paid out in Euros. Has-

san noted that UNESCO, which manages the Acade-

my’s funds, was reviewing its monetary policies

because it, too, was concerned about the adverse impact

that the dollar’s decline was having on the organiza-

tion’s purchasing power. The situation will continue to

be monitored and discussed further with UNESCO.

Concluding the proceedings, Palis noted that the

stage had been set for a grand 19th General Meeting and

‘Silver Jubilee’ celebration in Mexico City in 2008. He

once again thanked ICTP for agreeing to hold the meet-

ing in Trieste following the decision to move the venue

from Islamabad. He also expressed thanks to the staff

of the TWAS secretariat for their hard work in organiz-

ing the rescheduled event on such short notice.

Palis added that: “Next year will be a special time for

the Academy. The 25th anniversary will provide ample

opportunities for both celebration and reflection. Over

the past quarter century, we have indeed accomplished

a great deal together and we do indeed have a great deal

to be proud of. Even so, a great many challenges still lie

before us: challenges posed by broad sectors of the sci-

entific community that have yet to share fully in our

progress, including young scientists, women scientists

and researchers working in least developed and scien-

tifically lagging countries; challenges posed by the

growing number of international problems that cannot

be addressed without science, such as global warming,

food and energy security, and access to safe drinking

water; and challenges posed by transferring our scien-

tific knowledge to society to ensure that we do not

become honoured but insulated minorities within our

own nations. We have both a vested interest and moral

obligation,” continued Palis, “to seek ways to help dis-

tribute the fruits of our labour to our fellow citizens.

These are the issues, at the nexus of society and science,

that will be the focus of our attention in the years

ahead, and these are the issues that will provide the

measure of our impact and success as we enter the next

quarter century of the Academy’s life.”


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P R O G R A M M E S

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES: LUIS RAFAEL HERRERA-ESTRELLAThe 2007 Trieste Science Prize for Agricultural Sciences was awarded to:

• Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella, director of the National Laboratory for Genomics

of Biodiversity and professor of plant genetic engineering at the Centre of

Research and Advanced Studies in Irapuato, Mexico.

Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella helped to pioneer the field of plant molecular biol-

ogy and genetic engineering. Plant transformation techniques developed by

Herrera-Estrella and his colleagues have had a significant impact on the com-

mercial production of genetically modified plants currently grown on more

than 100 million hectares worldwide.

Herrera-Estrella’s work has largely focused on crop species of economic

importance to Latin America, including asparagus, maize and papaya. In

addition, his analysis of the molecular mechanisms of toxins, produced by

the disease-causing bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv phaseolicola, has led

Trieste Science Prize

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The third set of Trieste Science Prize laureates were announced in 2007. This prestigious prize,

administered by TWAS and funded by illycaffé S.p.A., the internationally renowned

coffee manufacturing company that, like TWAS, has its headquarters in Trieste,

Italy, is designed to give international recognition and visibility to outstanding sci-

entific achievements made by scientists living and working in the developing world.

The award includes a trophy and a US$50,000 monetary prize. The two winners –

in the fields of agricultural sciences and chemical sciences – attended a ceremony

in Trieste, held during a four-day international science media fair, FEST, in May 2007,

and presented their work at the TWAS 18th General Meeting held in Trieste in Octo-

ber 2007.

to the development of transgenic beans resistant to the

disease.

Herrera-Estrella has recently turned his attention to

understanding the molecular mechanisms that make it

possible for plants to tolerate toxic concentrations of

aluminium and, more generally, that enable plants to

adapt to nutrient-deficient soils. This is critically impor-

tant in Latin America, where some 500 million hectares

of farmland are deficient in phosphorus, an essential

nutrient for healthy plant growth and crop production.

CHEMICAL SCIENCES: GOVERDHAN MEHTAThe 2007 Trieste Science Prize for Chemical Sciences

was awarded to:

• Goverdhan Mehta, CSIR Bhatnagar fellow and hon-

orary professor at the Department of Organic Chem-

istry at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, and

distinguished research professor at the University of

Hyderabad, India.

Mehta is a world-renowned chemist who has made

breakthrough contributions in a variety of fields related

to organic synthesis.

His wide-ranging interests include the synthesis of

biologically significant and architecturally challenging

natural products; the design of novel molecules; the

study of stereo-electronic effects; and super molecular

chemistry. His synthesis techniques have been widely

praised for their elegance and originality. Otteliones A

and B, for example, currently being tested for their anti-

tumour activity, are among the 50 complex and biolog-

ically active natural products that Mehta and his group

have synthesized.

Mehta’s work has led to patents for hybrid drugs for

the treatment of cancer that combine the drugs’ con-

ventional cytotoxic action with the ability to be

‘switched on’ in the desired location using light as a

stimulus. He and his group have also synthesized car-

bon compounds that may have potential applications in

nanotechnology devices.

Beyond the laboratory, Mehta has made significant

contributions to science education and science policy in

India and abroad. He is currently president of the Inter-

national Council for Science (ICSU) in Paris, France,

and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee to

the Prime Minister of India.

T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 _ C O R E P R O G R A M M E S

2 1

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

Muhammad Arshad, Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University

of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, won the TWAS Prize in Agricultural Sci-

ences:

for his innovative contributions to the study of plant bio-fertilizers and their poten-

tial to improve crop production.

Less than one percent of the soil ecosystem is composed of microbes, yet the

members of this tiny biomass carry out a range of dynamic acitivites, includ-

ing nutrient cycling, which is critical for healthy plant growth. Although a

small proportion of soil microorganisms may be pathogenic and cause dis-

eases such as wilts and root rots, many others are beneficial. “Current agri-

cultural scenarios demand the use of such beneficial bacteria as supplements

to chemical fertilizers to guarantee food security on a sustainable basis,” says

Muhammad Arshad.

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TWAS Prizes for scientific excellence are awarded annually in the fields of agricultural sciences,

biology, chemistry, earth sciences, engineering sciences, mathematics, medical

sciences and physics, and rank among the highest scientific accolades given to

scientists in developing countries. Each prize carries a cash award of US$10,000.

Of particular note in 2007 is the prize in agricultural sciences won by Muhammad

Arshad, which marks the first TWAS Prize won by a Pakistani scientist since 2000.

The TWAS Prizes for 2007 were announced during the TWAS 18th General Meeting

held in Trieste, Italy. The prizes will be presented at the TWAS 19th General Meeting

and ‘Silver Jubilee’ celebrations, scheduled to take place in Mexico City, Mexico, in

November 2008.

TWAS Prizes: Honouring Scientists

As a soil microbiologist, Arshad has focused his research on developing

strategies to use beneficial microorganisms for enhancing crop production. In

doing so, he has pioneered the concept of utilizing microbially-produced plant

growth regulators, or ‘bio-fertilizers’, to improve crop production in sustain-

able agricultural systems and has successfully formulated high-quality bio-fer-

tilizers. Using this approach, Arshad has prepared ‘Rice Biofert’ that contains

microbially-derived plant growth promoting substances that has proved effec-

tive in farm trials and that is currently being commercialized in Pakistan.

Arshad has also examined ways of converting organic wastes into value-

added soil-amendments through enrichment with nutrients, plant growth

regulators and beneficial rhizobacteria. The novelty of this approach is that

the product is highly effective even when applied to fields at rates far lower

than organic wastes are traditionally applied. This environmentally friendly

approach is not only useful for the management of organic wastes but also

improves soil health, soil water retention properties and crop yields.

In collaboration with the scientists at the University of California, River-

side, USA, Arshad has also developed an effective bioremediation biotech-

nology for pesticide-polluted soil and water environments that is currently

being used by the United States’ Environment Protection Agency.

BIOLOGY

Lucia Mendonça Previato, Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Cha-

gas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,

won the TWAS Prize in Biology:

for her contributions to the understanding, treatment and pre-

vention of Chagas disease.

Chagas disease affects an estimated 17 million people in Central

and South America. It is caused by a protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi,

which is transmitted to humans by several species of blood-sucking bugs. Ini-

tial symptoms may be no more than local swelling around the bite. However,


2 3

the disease may progress – even

over as many as 20 years – to dam-

age the heart and digestive system,

sometimes proving fatal. Current

drug treatments are often toxic and

tend to be ineffective, especially against the chronic stage of the disease.

Any parasite that survives within a host for so long must have evolved a

mechanism for outwitting the host’s immune system. Such an interaction with

the host takes place on the surface of the parasite. In efforts to understand the

pathogenesis of Chagas disease, Mendonça-Previato studies the structure,

biosynthesis and function of glycoconjugates present on the surface of T. cruzi.

Sialic acid, often found in animal glycoproteins, plays a significant role in

the mediation of many cell-cell and cell-molecule interactions by interacting

with surface receptors. Mendonça-Previato and her group discovered a new

metabolic route for the incorporation of sialic acid into T. cruzi glycoproteins.

Rather than being produced internally by the parasite and ‘exported’ to the

outer surface of the membrane, Mendonça-Previato showed that T. cruzi

‘scavenges’ sialic acid from host sialoglycoconjugates through the action of a

trans-sialidase enzyme. Trans-sialidase was immediately suspected to play a

pivotal role in Trypanosoma-host interactions, such as parasite attachment to

cells and alteration of immune cell function to enhance parasitism.

More recently, Mendonça-Previato and her group have advanced their

studies of T. cruzi surface trans-sialidase, especially its roles in the host

immune response and the invasion of host cells by the parasite. Further

analyses of the activity of trans-sialidase have opened up the possibility of

designing novel trans-sialidase inhibitors. Other advances made while char-

acterizing many of the unique glycobiology features of T. cruzi may lead to

significant advances towards the development of chemo- and immuno-ther-

apies not only against T. cruzi, but other parasites as well.

CHEMISTRY

Kankan Bhattacharyya, Physical Chemistry Department, Indian Association

for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, India, won the TWAS Prize in Chem-

istry:

for his seminal contributions to ultrafast dynamics in organized and biological

assemblies.

Early in his research career, Kankan Bhattacharyya showed that acid-base

properties at the surface of an aqueous solution differ markedly from the prop-

C O R E P R O G R A M M E S _ T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7

2 4

erties demonstrated within the bulk of the liquid. He has since extended his

studies to investigate the properties of solutes and solvents in nano-cavities.

Nano-cavities are found in such structures as micelles, sol-gel matrices and

proteins. Through a series of cutting-edge analyses, Bhattacharyya has

demonstrated that the properties of liquids confined in such nano-cavities

are different from the properties of bulk liquids due to the substantially

altered local properties in the nano-cavity and the close proximity of the

reactants.

Among Bhattacharyya’s most significant discoveries is that water mole-

cules confined in the nanocavity of a protein or other organized assembly

such as a micelle may move 100 to 1,000 times slower compared to molecules

in bulk water. He also found that the solvation dynamics – the interaction

between solutes and solvents – at different sites of a protein are different.

The slowness of the water in this biological system is highly beneficial and

can protect the protein under adverse conditions.

Using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), Bhattacharyya has

expanded his chemical studies to biological systems. The precise location

and nature of the interactions between specific molecular species in living

cells is of major interest in many areas of biological research, but investiga-

tions are hampered by the limited resolution of the instruments employed to

examine these phenomena. By linking FRET with optical microscopy, Bhat-

tacharrya can ‘observe’ the interactions between two molecules as they

approach within several nanometres of each other, a distance sufficiently

close for molecular interactions to occur. Using this system, he confirmed

that proton transfer in nano-confined systems is substantially slower com-

pared to that in bulk water. These studies have significantly improved our

understanding of ultrafast dynamics in biological systems and conclusively

prove that chemistry in a nano-confined system is fundamentally different

from that in a bulk liquid.


2 5

EARTH SCIENCES

Paulo Artaxo, Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, Brazil, won the

TWAS Prize in Earth Sciences:

for his outstanding work in understanding the role of biomass-burning aerosols on

cloud processes and the radiation balance in the Amazon Basin.

The Amazon Rainforest covers some 5.5 million square kilometres, 60 per-

cent of which are located in Brazil. As one of the world’s most pristine envi-

ronments, the Amazon forest is one of the few remaining areas of land where

very low atmospheric aerosol loads can still be found under natural condi-

tions.

Artaxo was one of the first scientists to recognize that natural vegetation

plays a major role in the emission of aerosol particles into the atmosphere,

and that the forest emits a large amount of cloud condensation nuclei that

help regulate both local precipitation and the global climate. He also discov-

ered that natural aerosol particles are efficient carriers of key nutrients such

as phosphorus.

“The intense interaction between the rainforest and the atmosphere

involves the emission and deposition of aerosols and trace gases such as

volatile organic compounds, ozone, nitrogen oxides, methane and carbon

dioxide,” confirms Artaxo.

Since 1985, Artaxo has focused his research on environmental issues in the

Amazonian region and, in particular, the impacts of deforestation on cli-

mate.

“The natural unperturbed pattern is suffering profound changes with the

deforestation of about 20,000 square kilometres of rainforest every year and

the emissions associated with biomass burning. The large amount of particles

emitted by biomass burning changes the radiation balance, cloud properties

and deposition pattern of key nutrients,” says Artaxo. “The impacts extend


2 6


2 7

over most of South America,

influencing air quality and sur-

face radiation balance over a

large area.”

Amazonia is also expected to

be one of the ecosystems most seriously affected by climate change. “Models

indicate that the extent of the forest will be reduced significantly, with a large

accompanying loss of carbon to the atmosphere that will intensify the green-

house effect,” adds Arataxo, who served as a member of the Intergovern-

mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 1. The IPCC shared

the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president Al Gore for their

combined efforts in increasing public understanding and awareness of cli-

mate change.

ENGINEERING SCIENCES

Chih-Kung Lee, Institute of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University,

Taipei, Taiwan, China, won the TWAS Prize in the Engineering Sciences:

for his fundamental contributions to interdisciplinary system research in piezoelec-

tricity, optics, micro electro-mechanical systems, nano-biomechanics and plas-

monics.

After receiving his master’s and doctoral degrees from Cornell Univers-

ity, USA, Chih-Kung Lee joined IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San

Jose, California, where his research and development spanned interdisci-

plinary areas related to magnetic disk drives, optoelectronic systems,

metrology systems and piezoelectric systems. He was awarded an IBM Out-

standing Technical Achievement Award for his work on reducing the

thermal track mis-registration of a commercial IBM hard disk that

was a profitable commercial product at the time. While at IBM,

he also received awards for his inventions and patents on laser

encoders, nanometre fly height measurement systems, piezo-

electric strain rate gauges and acceleration rate sensors.

In 1994, he returned to Taiwan, where he extended his research

on distributed piezoelectric sensors and actuators, particu-

larly in the areas of flexible structure control, shock sens-

ing and sensor development. His interdisciplinary

background allows him to create innovative inte-

grated systems based on his knowledge of mechan-

ics, optics, electronics, semiconductors, metrology


2 8

and interface systems. His inventions of model sensors and piezoelectric

transformers, for example, helped open a new research line in the field of

smart structures. To date, Lee’s work has been recognized by the award of

more than 110 patents, many of which have been successfully transferred to

industry.

Lee has also been a driving force in promoting education and public

understanding of nanotechnology in Taiwan, particularly through the estab-

lishment of a Nano-Bio Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) group at

the National Taiwan University. This group, which includes faculty from

various universities as well as experts from Taiwan’s Industrial Technology

Research Institute and private companies, emphasizes social responsibility

as a cornerstone of world-class research. Through Nano-Bio-MEMS, Lee is

currently directing his efforts to finding a paradigm to link Taiwan’s

research in engineering and applied sciences to the next-generation indus-

trial and societal trends.

MATHEMATICS

Shrikrishna Dani, School of Mathematics, Tata Institute of Fundamental

Research, Mumbai, India, won the TWAS Prize in Mathematics:

for his fundamental contributions to the study of flows on homogeneous spaces of

Lie groups and of probability measures on Lie groups.

Shrikrishna Gopalrao Dani joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental

Research in 1969 and has been affiliated with the institute ever since.

His contributions to mathematics have been in two main areas. Through-

out his career, he has studied ergodic theory and the dynamics of flows on

homogeneous spaces of Lie groups and their applications to Diophantine

approximation. Lie groups, named after the 19th century Norwegian mathe-


2 9

matician, Sophus Lie (1842-

1899) represent the best-devel-

oped theory of continuous sym-

metry of mathematical objects

and structures. They provide a natural framework for analysing the continu-

ous symmetries of differential equations, making them indispensable tools

for many parts of contemporary mathematics and modern theoretical

physics.

Since the 1980s, Dani has also made significant contributions to certain

questions on probability measures on Lie groups. His work on the behaviour

of orbits of flows on homogeneous spaces, concerning their closure, distri-

bution, recurrence, boundedness and divergence, and his successful efforts to

relate these aspects to questions in Diophantine approximation, have had a

major impact on the theory. For example, his results on uniform recurrence

of the trajectories of unipotent flows played an important role in Ratner’s

proof of the Raghunathan conjecture. With G.A. Margulis, Dani made

notable improvements to Ratner’s uniform distribution theorem and

deduced a quantitative version of the Oppenheim conjecture.

MEDICAL SCIENCES

Sergio Danilo Junho Pena, Departamento de Bioquimica e Imunologia, Uni-

versidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, won the TWAS

Prize in the Medical Sciences:

for his contributions to human and parasite molecular genetics and to the under-

standing of the formation and structure of the Brazilian population.

Genetic evidence is frequently used to satisfy our curiosity

about human origins and population migrations.

Although Sergio Pena’s early-career research and training in

Canada and the United Kingdom focused on the genetic basis of

muscular diseases, on returning to Brazil in 1982, Pena created a

laboratory dedicated to the study of genetic variation in humans

and helped pioneer the application of DNA-based techniques for

the characterization of human genetic diversity.

Pena was also the first to launch DNA-based paternity

testing in Brazil, for example. His research group also

successfully developed a series of novel techniques

for the detection of human mutations that are wide-

ly employed in many developing countries.

In 1995, Pena and his group began to use molecular techniques to study

the origins and structure of Brazilian populations. They first demonstrated

the existence of a remarkable founder effect on the Y-chromosome, which is

inherited through the paternal line, of Amerindian populations from North

America to Patagonia. These data were later used to show that the most like-

ly origin of Amerindians was Central Siberia.

Pena then turned his attention to the investigation of urban populations in

Brazil. His group’s comparison of the percentages of Y-chromosome markers

with maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA markers demonstrated signif-

icant sex-biased mating in the founding and ongoing history of the Brazilian

population, with a predominantly paternal European input and chiefly

maternal African and Amerindian contributions. Pena’s research has thus

contributed to a coherent genetic picture of the evolutionary history of Brazil-

ians, providing an important complement to the narratives derived from

social science methodologies.

In 1992, Pena also began genetic research on human parasites, initiating

the first formal large-scale DNA sequencing programme in Latin America to

study the transcriptome of the parasitic worm, Schistosoma mansoni. He has

also employed several of the tools developed to study human genome diver-

sity to shed light on the biology of Trypanosoma cruzi and the pathogenesis

of Chagas disease.

PHYSICS

Jie Zhang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, won the TWAS Prize in

Physics:

for his significant contributions to the development of saturated x-ray lasers and our

deep understanding of the interaction between high-power lasers and matter.

Jie Zhang obtained his PhD from the Institute of

Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in

1988. He then spent 10 years at the Rutherford

Appleton Laboratory, UK, where he and his col-

leagues from British universities used a specially

optimized driver pulse laser configuration to illumi-

nate two opposite-gradient targets to relax the density

gradient of plasmas, which had been the obstacle in pro-

ducing short-wavelength (14-5.8 nanometre) x-ray lasers.

Lasers capable of producing such beams are sought-after as

this region of the spectrum provides the best contrast


3 0

between carbon-based biological structures and water, enabling images of

living structures to be obtained.

Zhang returned to China in 1999 to join the Institute of Physics, CAS.

Despite initial difficulties, he teamed up with a group of young returnee sci-

entists and raised enough funds to build powerful laser systems, advanced

target chambers and sophisticated diagnostic equipments. These efforts led

to research that has increased our understanding of the processes responsi-

ble for the generation and propagation of high-energy fast electrons in laser-

plasma interactions. These investigations are related to so-called ‘inertial con-

finement fusion’, which could produce energy released through the fusion of

the nuclei of deuterium and tritium (isotopes of hydrogen). One of the ways

currently being tested to achieve this involves compressing the target fusion

fuel with powerful laser beams and then igniting the compressed fusion fuel

with high-energy fast electrons generated by another high-power laser beam

through a cone of gold to provide the ‘fast ignition’ required to generate the

fusion – rather like a spark plug is used in a car engine to ignite the petrol.

The contributions of Zhang and his team have enhaced our understanding of

the process of the generation and propagation of high-energy fast electrons

in laser-plasma interactions, which are of critical importance in the fast igni-

tion process.


3 1

SUPPORTING FARMING SYSTEMSAfter obtaining his BSc at the University of Fort Hare and MSc in crop sci-

ence at the University of Natal, South Africa, Albert Modi travelled to the

United States to study for his PhD at Ohio State University, earning his doc-

torate in crop science in 1999. Upon his return to South Africa in late 1999,

Modi began his university research career as a senior lecturer at the Univer-

sity of Natal. He also began conducting studies on the physiology of cotyle-

donal cracking in green beans.

The cotyledons of seeds such as beans typically become the first leaves of

the germinated seedling. As such, they form the plant’s first efforts to pro-

duce energy from sunlight via photosynthesis and thus provide a spur to sub-

sequent plant growth and development. Under certain environmental con-

ditions, the cotyledons can crack, reducing their photosynthetic capacity –

which can have significant effects on the eventual yield of a bean crop.

Modi has shown that cracking can be controlled by treating seeds with cal-

cium and controlling the rate at which water is imbibed during germination.

TWAS Prizes for Young Scientists

3 2

TWAS Prizes for Young Scientists in Developing Countries are awarded to scientists under 40

years of age. The prizes are given in collaboration with national academies of sci-

ence, scientific research councils and ministries of science and technology in a

number of developing countries. TWAS provides the prize money (up to US$2,000)

while the national organizations select the recipients. Winners are chosen from

among each of the major fields of natural science (biology, chemistry, physics

and mathematics) on a rotating basis. Prizes are presented by a high-ranking offi-

cial, such as a government minister, at a special ceremony.

Some 45 national organizations are currently participating in the TWAS Prizes for

Young Scientists programme. In 2007, prizes were awarded to 43 young scientists

in 25 countries.


3 3

YOUNG PRIZE WINNERS

Awarding BodyBangladesh Academy of Sciences

Bangladesh Academy of Sciences

Benin Centre for Scientific & Technical Research

Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Bolivia

Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Bolivia

Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales

Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales

Consejo Nacional para Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnologicas

Consejo Nacional para Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnologicas

Academy of Sciences of Cuba

Academy of Sciences of Cuba

Academia de Ciencias Medicas, Fisicas y Naturales de Guatemala

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS)

Iranian Research Organization for Science & Technology (IROST)

Iranian Research Organization for Science & Technology (IROST)

Kenya National Academy of Sciences

National Academy of the Kyrgyz Republic

National Academy of the Kyrgyz Republic

National Research Council of Malawi

Mongolian Academy of Sciences

Mongolian Academy of Sciences

Nepal Academy of Science & Technology




Pakistan Academy of Sciences

Academia Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (ANCYT)

National Academy of Science (NAST)

Department of Science & Technology of the Republic of South

Africa and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)

National Science Foundation

Sudan Institute for Natural Sciences




Supreme Council of Science

National Research Council

Scientific & Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)

Uganda National Council for Science and Technology

Uganda National Council for Science and Technology

Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences




FieldBiochemistry

Physical Sciences

Mathematics

Physical Sciences

Biology

Chemistry

Chemistry

Chemical Sciences

Physics

Biology

Chemistry

Medical Sciences

Mathematics

Computer Engineering

Physics

Physics

Chemistry

Chemistry

Agricultural Sciences

Biology

Mathematics

Biological Sciences

Mathematics

Physics

Natural Product

Chemistry

Physics

Biology

Chemical Sciences


Biology

Biology

Physics

Mathematics

Chemistry

Physics

Chemistry

Physics

Medical Sciences

(Veterinary)


Chemistry

Physics

Biology

Physics

CountryBangladesh

Bangladesh

Benin

Bolivia

Bolivia

Colombia

Colombia

Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Cuba

Cuba

Guatemala

Guinea

Iran, Isl. Rep.

Iran, Isl. Rep.

Kenya

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

Malawi

Mongolia

Mongolia

Nepal

Nepal

Nepal

Nepal

Pakistan

Peru

Philippines

South Africa

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Sudan

Sudan

Sudan

Syria

Thailand

Turkey

Uganda

Uganda

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

NameMd. Shahdat Hossain

Md. Khariul Islam

Guy Aymard Degla

Gonzalo Marcelo Ramirez Avila

Luiz Alvaro Garitano-Zavala

Victor Manuel, Sarria

Daniel A. Barragán-Ramírez

Mabis Montero Villalobos

Eric Alfaro Martinez

Tania Crombet Ramos

Luiz Javier Gonzalez Lopez

Randall Manuel Lou Meda

Alfa Lamine Sylla

Hamid Sarbazi-Azad

Mohsen Alishahiha

Francis Wanjala Nyongesa

Elnura Hudaibergenova

Lyudmila V. Serikova

Daud Kassam

Indree Tuvshintogtokh

Lkhamsuren Altangerel

Rosemary Shrestha

Chinta Mani Pokhrel

Narayan Prasad Adhikari

Surya Kant Kalauni

Muhammad Sabieh Anwar

Jaeson Santos Calla Choque

Drexel H. Camacho

Albert Thembinkosi Modi

Udagedaralage Asanka Dilup Jayasinghe

Sumaya Ahmed Zaki-Eldeen Hamdan

Elssfah Mohammed Elawad Fadol

Elamin Mohammed Saeed Ali

Mohammed Awad Ali Khalid

Khaled Haddad

Tirayut Vilaivan

Bahtiyar Özgür Sarioglu

Enock Matovu

John H. Muyonga

Kanbarali Turgunov

Mirshod Ermamatov

Gayrat Muratov

Aleksandr Serebryanskiy

However, too much calcium, showed Modi, can reduce the percentage of

seeds that germinate.

Modi has also extended his laboratory research to local farming commu-

nities. In particular, in 2001, he created the Ezemvelo Farmers Organization

(EFO) in the province of Kwazulu-Natal, the first South African farmer group

to grow certified organic crops. About 200 farmers are now involved in this

scheme. From this beginning, Modi has continued to promote small-scale

organic farming and on-farm research on traditional agricultural practices. In

2006, for example, he initiated another collaborative project on the dynam-

ics of homestead agriculture and organic farming in partnership with col-

leagues in South Africa and the Netherlands.

For these reasons, Modi was awarded a TWAS Prize for Young Scientists by

the South African government’s Department of Science and Technology, which

authorizes the South African Academy of Sciences to run the programme.

ADDING VALUE TO FISHLake Victoria is the largest freshwater lake in Africa. The lake’s fish provide

a valuable source of high protein food for the local people and a valuable

export commodity for the three neighbouring countries, Kenya, Tanzania

and Uganda. Among the species caught for export, the most important is the

Nile perch, which can grow up to 2 metres in length.

Research on Nile perch post-harvest biochemistry has contributed to the

understanding of the best way to ensure the quality of the products. Such

products include not only the meat, but also others typically regarded as pro-

cessing by-products such as skins, belly flaps and trimmings.

John Muyonga, department of food science and technology, University of

Makerere, Uganda, has spearheaded research that has demonstrated that Nile

perch processing by-products are good sources of high quality collagen, gel-

atin and omega 3-rich oil. Collagen is used in medicine to treat burns and oth-

er skin problems and is also found in some cosmetics. It can also be con-

verted into gelatin, which is a common food additive. Omega-3 fatty acid is

another food additive that has proven health benefits.

Through this work on the post-harvest biochemistry and biomaterial

extraction of Nile perch, Muyonga has developed ways that can contribute to

improving the quality and economic value of Nile perch, especially through

these so-called by-products – processes that are likely to lead to commercial


3 4


3 5

activities that will eventually, it is hoped, contribute to the socio-economic

development of the country.

For these reasons, Muyonga was awarded a TWAS Prize for Young Scien-

tists by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.

The prize was shared with Enock Matovu, faculty of veterinary medicine,

Makerere University, who was honoured for his research on the molecu-

lar mechanisms of drug resistance to African trypanosomes, the para-

sites that cause sleeping sickness in human and the wasting disease,

ngana, in cattle.

CLIMATE STUDIES IN COSTA RICAEric J. Alfaro Martínez, school of physics, University of Costa Rica,

is an atmospheric physicist. Specifically, his research revolves

around understanding and predicting climate system variability.

“Some regional climate variability,” says Alfaro Martínez, “is the

consequence of non-seasonal changes, but is more associated with

inter-annual and decadal variability in the surrounding oceans and their

interaction with the overlying atmosphere.

“Such variations can impact on the human population,” continues Alfaro

Martínez. “For example, they can cause extreme events such as droughts that

limit available water resources for agriculture, power generation, human con-

sumption and recreation.” Alfaro Martínez’s work has also focused on other

natural disasters, such as the annual variation in the number of hurricanes

that have affected Costa Rica and Central America.

“A better understanding of the climate system can help us to deal with

such extreme events by providing the information we need to select appro-

priate contingency mechanisms,” adds Alfaro Martínez. “Policy-makers, for

example, can use this information in areas of environmental planning and

protection, especially those related to the more resource-poor, and therefore

more vulnerable, sectors of society.”

For these reasons, Martínez was awarded the TWAS Prize for Young Scientists

by Costa Rica’s Consejo Nacional para Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnologicas.

COLLABORATING ACROSS CONTINENTSRam Kishore and A.K. Mishra, two renowned experts in the field of con-

densed matter physics, have been working together and publishing papers

for a number years. The fact that Kishore is based at the Instituto Nacional de

Pesquisas Espaciais, São José dos Campos, Brazil, and Mishra at the Institute

of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), half a world away in Chennai, India, has

not hindered their collaboration.

Together, the two scientists have made important contributions to the

physics of orthofermions.

Fermions, characterized by their half-spins (as opposed to bosons that have

integer-value spins), include such particles as protons and electrons. Pauli’s

exclusion principle states that no two identical fermions can occupy the same

quantum state simultaneously. Formulated by Wolfgang Pauli in 1925, this

principle has become one of the most fundamental principles in physics,

underpinning many of the characteristic properties of matter, from its large-

scale stability to the similarities of atomic properties highlighted by the

arrangement of elements in the periodic table.

The quantum state of a fermion is defined by both its orbital state and its

spin state. Put simply, the exclusion principle confirms that, if two fermions

share the same orbital state, they must have different spin states.

Kishore and Mishra have focused their theoretical work on the behaviour

of orthofermions, which obey an even more exclusive exclusion principle.

Associateship Scheme

3 6

The TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme operates in collaboration with more than 100 scien-

tific institutions in the South that have been designated ‘centres of excellence’.

The scheme allows researchers from developing countries, each of whom is

appointed for three years, to make two visits to a selected centre to develop and

carry out collaborative research. TWAS provides travel support for the associates

and contributes towards their subsistence costs, while the host centres cover

their living expenses.

In 2007, TWAS awarded 17 new associateships to scientists from seven countries,

including Cameroon, Cuba and Iran, while a total of 44 TWAS-UNESCO Associates

from 16 countries, including Kenya, Uzbekistan and Yemen, travelled to host insti-

tutions in nine countries in the South.

The TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme is kindly supported by the OPEC Fund for

International Development (OFID).

Kishore first met Mishra in 2000 at IMSc in Chennai

and the pair quickly discovered their mutual interests

in problems relating to orthofermions. Indeed, their

early collaboration led to the publication of a paper in

2004 in the renowned journal, Physica A, on ortho-

fermion statistics. Since then, thanks to the TWAS-

UNESCO Associateship Scheme, Kishore has visited

Mishra at his institute in Chennai on three occasions.

He was first awarded a TWAS-UNESCO Associateship

in 2004, through which he made two three-month vis-

its. In 2006, his application for the renewal of the Asso-

ciateship award for an additional three years was

approved, allowing him to make an additional two trips

to India. The first of these was undertaken between

June and September 2007.

“During this visit,” informs Kishore, “we were able to

develop a second quantization theory for orthofermi-

ons, combining two earlier algebraic expressions into a

single equation. This task is essential for modelling a

system in the presence of a magnetic field.”

Although the two scientists have advanced the theory

of orthofermions through statistical models and alge-

braic expressions, their work also has potential practical

applications. During his visits to India, for example,

Kishore has taken the time to visit Ajay, department of

physics, G.B. Pant University, Pantnagar, some 2,500

kilometres from Chennai. Together, Kishore and Ajay

established a collaborative research programme on

strongly correlated electron systems, especially relating

to the properties of high-temperature superconductors.

The connection between the two research areas is

that the more exclusive exclusion principle of

orthofermions means that two orthofermions cannot

be in the same orbital state even if their spin states are

different. It is proposed that this defining characteristic

of orthofermions is somehow responsible for the super-

conducting properties of certain compounds under

high temperatures.

Poor telecommunications infrastructure and the lack

of resources to attend major conferences often combine

to exclude many talented scientists from developing

countries from the mainstream of global research –

much as two orthofermions are excluded from the same

orbital state. Despite their geographical separation, it

could be said that Kishore and Mishra – thanks to the

TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme – have devel-

oped a ‘strongly correlated system’ that enables them to

work together and to produce excellent research results.

“Without the assistance of TWAS through its Associ-

ate Scheme, we would never have been able to accom-

plish as much together,” confirms Kishore of his collab-

oration with Mishra. “The programme is extremely use-

ful for helping developing world scientists to establish

collaborative research programmes with other institu-

tions in the South.”


3 7

INSECTICIDE SIDE-EFFECTSIf left unchecked, insect pests can mean the difference between an adequate

harvest and hunger for many farmers in developing countries. Insects also

transmit deadly tropical diseases such as malaria and sleeping sickness. It is

no surprise, therefore, that insecticides are widely used to limit the damage

to crops and the spread of diseases caused by insects.

The combination of heat and ignorance of safety measures, however,

means that farmers often do not wear the recommended protective gear,

such as overalls and a mask, when carrying out spraying operations. All too

often, this leads to exposure to the insecticide.

Deltamethrin, which is derived from the relatively harmless natural plant

product, permethrin, is an insecticide that is used against a wide range of

insect pests. It is estimated that about 70 percent of people in Nigeria use one

type of pesticide or another, most of which contain deltamethrin, in the war

against mosquitoes and malaria.

Although the toxic effects of deltamethrin on humans are generally lower

than for other insecticides, exposure to deltamethrin may still cause both

chronic and acute toxicity. The chemical acts on the nervous system of both

South-South Fellowships

3 8

TWAS’s South-South Fellowship Programme provides opportunities for scientists from one devel-

oping country to carry out research at an approved institution in another devel-

oping country. For the past few years, the programme has operated in partnership

with (CNPq), Brazil, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Council of Scien-

tific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India, and the Department of Biotechnology

(DBT) of the government of India. In 2007, agreements signed with the National

Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB) and the International Centre for

Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) in Pakistan and the Indian Association

for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) helped to expand the programme. While TWAS

administers the programme and covers the travel costs, the national agencies

cover local costs such as living expenses and tuition fees. In 2007, for the first

time, TWAS awarded more than 100 fellowships (see page 65).

insects and mammals. In insects, it causes irreversible

damage. In humans, reported symptoms include irrita-

tion of the skin and eyes, prickling sensations,

headaches, numbness, nausea and fatigue. In severe

cases, muscle twitching and even death due to respira-

tory failure have been recorded.

To study these neurotoxic effects – in rats rather than

people – Udu Ada Ibiam, department of biochemistry

and biotechnology, Ebonyi State University, Nigeria,

was awarded a TWAS-Department of Biotechnology

(DBT) postdoctoral fellowship. In August 2007, he trav-

elled to Jiwaji University, Gwalior, some 320 kilometres

south of Delhi in India. There, under the supervision of

Ishan Patro in the School of Studies in Neuroscience, he

received training in how to prepare and analyse thin

sections of tissues as well as a range of other biochem-

ical and biotechnological techniques.

“My aim was to understand the responses of glial

cells to prenatal exposure to deltamethrin in rats,”

explains Ibiam. “Glial cells are important. While do not

transmit nerve impulses, they form an essential part of

the brain and nervous system. Interactions between

nerve cells and glial cells are fundamental to brain func-

tion,” he adds.

To achieve this, Ibiam learned how to determine the

oestrus cycle of female rats in order to obtain preg-

nancies timed to specific intervals. He then dosed the

pregnant rats with deltametrin and attempted to

observe gliosis in the embryos at different stages of

development. “Gliosis is defined as the production of a

dense fibrous network of glial and nerve cells that

becomes a degenerative lesion,” informs Ibiam. “Once

you know what you are looking for, it is relatively easy

to spot such affected tissues in well-prepared histolog-

ical samples.”

By observing and analyzing the gliosis caused by

deltamethrin, Ibiam hoped to be able to determine the

possibility of using his tests as a biomarker for neuro-

toxicity caused by the insecticide.

Ibiam’s results clearly show a range of deleterious

effects caused by pre-natal treatment of rats with

deltamethrin. For example, total body weight, brain

weight and liver weight were all reduced in treated rat

pups compared to the untreated control group. In addi-

tion, both the brain and liver contained lower than nor-

mal levels of protein, implying that the organs were

being poisoned. Such results were backed up by Ibiam’s

histological analyses, which confirmed that there were

differences in the development of the cerebellum and

glial cells in treated pups.

“I now want to test the effects of some mosquito

insecticides used in Nigeria on developing rat foetuses,”

says Ibiam. “Many such insecticides are commonly

used in homes, even by pregnant women.”


3 9

HELPFUL NEIGHBOURRwanda, a small land-locked country in central Africa, is home to some 8.5

million people – and some 1.3 million cattle. Because the human population

of Rwanda is expected to increase to 16 million by 2020, there is an urgent

need to increase agricultural production.

“Currently, however,” says Elly Sabiiti, “Rwanda’s cattle are largely reared

by small-scale farmers with limited land and feed resources.”

Sabiiti, a professor of agricultural sciences at Makerere University, Ugan-

da, was appointed a TWAS Research Professor in 2006 and, in April 2007,

travelled to the National University of Rwanda (NUR) to assist the Depart-

ment of Animal Production in reviewing its curricula and building capacity

in doctorate-level research and training.

Founded in 1963, NUR has nine faculties or schools. The Faculty of Agri-

culture itself is divided into four departments: animal production, crop pro-

duction, soil sciences and agricultural economics and agribusiness. Sabiiti

was appointed to work with the

deputy dean of the Faculty of Agri-

culture, Juvénal Kanani.

“The livestock sector provides a

major contribution to the economy of

Rwanda,” explains Sabiiti, “yet the

department of animal production has

TWAS Research Professors

4 0

The TWAS Research Professors in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) scheme was launched in

2005. More than 90 TWAS members have since expressed an interest in partici-

pating in the programme, which would allow them to visit a research institution in

an LDC three times during a five-year period for one to three months on each occa-

sion. The areas of expertise of each of these TWAS members has been circulated to

more than 1,000 institutions in LDCs so that they can select their preferred expert.

To date TWAS has appointed 10 members as TWAS Research Professors and sup-

ported the travels of five. Two TWAS Research Professors travelled in 2007 (see

page 66), including Elly Sabiiti of Uganda, whose experience is highlighted below.

only one permanent PhD on its staff. Indeed, the Facul-

ty of Agriculture currently has no PhD training pro-

grammes and only one master’s programme, in agro-

forestry and soil management. There is therefore a crit-

ical need to develop training courses and trained

research personnel.”

During his one-month visit, Sabiiti also evaluated the

livestock production systems and the research situation

beyond the NUR campus.

“The faculty provided funds and a vehicle that helped

make my field visits a success,” says Sabiiti. “I was able

to meet with other scientists, key government officials

and farmers practicing different kinds of livestock pro-

duction techniques.”

Among the livestock rearing methods being practiced

in Rwanda are mixed farms, where farmers integrate

crop and livestock production, and zero-grazing. In this

case, cattle are confined while the fodder, typically ele-

phant grass, is brought in from elsewhere.

“Livestock production is increasing in peri-urban

areas using zero-grazing, especially for milk, which has

a ready market in the cities,” observes Sabiiti. “But there

is a serious shortage of fodder. More research is needed

to develop alternative feeding packages.”

Sabiiti’s field visits also took him to the Rwanda Agri-

cultural Research Institute, where he was surprised to

find just a few researchers trained to the bachelor

degree level and limited capacity to carry out any mean-

ingful research.

“The field visits served a second purpose,” adds Sabi-

iti. “As we spent a lot of time together, I was able to

train Kanani on how to observe and identify problems

faced by farmers and on what kind of research he

could formulate to address these challenges. By meet-

ing key policy makers, he was also able to identify the

priority areas for inclusion in the curriculum and for

research.

“During my month in Rwanda, one major objective

was accomplished – to forge links with scientists there.

The process is now moving on to build PhD training

opportunities through research and collaboration.”

Indeed, the first steps of this process have already

been taken. Kanani, Sabiiti’s host at NUR, visited the

Faculty of Agriculture at Makerere University in Octo-

ber 2007 where he has been accepted for PhD training.

During his studies, Kanani will evaluate feed crop and

brewing byproducts and Tithonia diversiflora (Mexican

sunflower) as alternative low-cost feed supplements for

goat milk and meat production in Rwanda.

“Rwanda has just joined the East African Communi-

ty,” concludes Sabiiti. This means that the National Uni-

versity of Rwanda will likely become a member of the

Inter University Council for East Africa and allow for

better collaboration. Thanks to TWAS, however, we

have already been able to open research and training

links between our two universities and begin the

process of building human capacity.”


4 1

POWER FROM POLYMERSIn Ethiopia, traditional biomass fuels such as wood, charcoal, crop residues

and cattle dung provide the main sources of energy. However, the intensive

use of such energy sources has been implicated in the country’s problems

associated with soil degradation, desertification and drought.

Covering more than one million square kilometres and lying just ten

degrees north of the equator, there is at least one renewable energy resource

that Ethiopia possesses in abundance – solar energy.

“Some nongovernmental organizations have imported solar panels for use

in cooking, refrigeration and pumping water,” says Yohannes Teketel,

department of chemistry, University of Addis Ababa. “These devices have

demonstrated the promising potential of using

solar power to meet the energy demands of the

rural population, especially in areas where con-

ventional hydropower cannot be installed.”

Current commercial solar panels have conver-

sion efficiencies of 16 to 20 percent. The prob-

lem is that the solar conversion technology,

based on inorganic compounds such as silicon, is

expensive and relatively inefficient. One solution

is to develop solar energy conversion devices

based on organic technolgy.

Research Grants for Individuals

4 2

TWAS offers Research Grants of up to US$10,000 to scientists from developing countries of

proven ability for research projects in the basic sciences. Awardees must submit

a report of their work to TWAS one year after the last piece of equipment has been

bought. The following example of TWAS-supported research, therefore, is based on

a grant provided in 2004, the final report for which was submitted in 2007.

In 2007, 46 TWAS Research Grants of up to US$10,000 each were awarded to

researchers in some 21 developing countries. Among these, 16 grants went to sci-

entists working in nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa and another five grants

went to scientists in two least developed countries in Asia (Bangladesh and Nepal).

The TWAS Research Grants programme is sponsored by the Swedish International

Development Cooperation Agency’s Department for Research Cooperation

(Sida/SAREC).

“Polymer-based solar cells are becoming potential

alternatives to conventional inorganic solar cells. Even

so, the best organic polymers analysed so far have effi-

ciencies of about five percent,” explains Teketel, who is

using a TWAS Research Grant to synthesize conducting

polymers and copolymers electrochemically and then

characterize their photoactive properties.

“Because they are flexible, however, they can open up

new fields of application. Another advantage is the low

cost of the cells, which makes them ideal candidates for

the energy markets in developing countries,” he adds.

Using equipment and materials provided through the

TWAS grant, Teketel has manufactured a number of

photoactive electrodes coated with various semi-con-

ducting polymers such as poly(3-hexylthiophene)- or

P3HT for short – and poly[2-methoxy-5-(2’-ethylhexy-

loxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] – or MEH-PPV for short –

and mixture of either P3HT or MEH-PPV with a

fullerene (a spherical array of 60 carbon atoms, C60).

By varying the intensity and spectrum of light hitting

the electrodes, Teketel was able to measure the current-

voltage responses of the various polymer combinations

using a computer-controlled electrochemical analyzer.

“Our results demonstrated that devices in which the

photoactive electrode consisted of P3HT/ C60 or MEH-

PPV/C60 showed improved energy conversion charac-

teristics compared to electrodes that consisted of P3HT

or MEH-PPV alone,” says Teketel. “The several-fold

enhancement probably derives from the heterojunc-

tions created between the MEH-PPV polymers and the

fullerenes that help the effective conversion of light to

electricity.”

Based on the work carried out in his laboratory in

Ethiopia, Teketel and his group have published some

ten papers in reputable international publications.

“The fundamental and basic research that we are

doing is contributing to the development of research

work on solar energy devices being carried out else-

where,” adds Teketel. “ With the help of funding from

TWAS – this is our second TWAS grant – and other

sources, seven master’s students and two PhD students

have already completed their studies. In addition, three

PhD students are currently working in the lab and using

the equipment supplied through the TWAS research

grant.

The conversion efficiencies of the devices being built

and tested in Teketel’s laboratory may still have some

way to go before they can compete with similar devices

being developed in other laboratories, but nothing will

be achieved without trained personnel and state-of-the-

art equipment. It is this type of capacity building that,

thanks to TWAS, Teketel has been able to undertake in

his laboratory.

If Teketel and his team can continue to increase the

efficiency of the solar devices they are designing and

testing, then TWAS will have played a significant part

in developing not only a renewable source of clean

energy, but perhaps also a small part in the economic

development of Ethiopia.


4 3

NANO-APPLICATIONS IN MALIIncreasing access to safe drinking water is one of the Millennium Devel-

opment Goals. In Mali, however, the goal of reducing by half the proportion

of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water is a long way

from being realized. Indeed, only 5 percent of the population currently has

access to safe drinking water.

“In Mali,” says Adama Tolofoudye, the recipient of a TWAS Research Unit

grant, “drinking-water infrastructure has a limited terrestrial coverage and its

compliance with World Health Organization standards is highly inadequate.”

Tolofoudye, based at the Faculté des Sciences et Techniques de Bamako

(FAST), is using the grant provided by TWAS to implement research activi-

ties aimed at improving water quality by combining two modern technolo-

gies – nanofiltration and solar photovoltaic energy. As well as designing a

prototype system for providing safe drinking water, he also aims to use the

grant to develop a core of trained researchers at FAST that can provide local

expertise in developing efficient water treatment systems.

After initial delays between ordering and receiving the necessary equip-

ment, the group has now installed a photovoltaics-powered bench-scale

4 4

TWAS currently supports 17 Research Units in Science- and Technology-lagging Countries.

This programme, launched by the Academy in 2002, was originally designed to

assist small research groups in the least developed countries (LDCs) that have

accomplished significant results but, because of the difficult conditions under

which they work, have yet to realize their full potential. Thanks to support from the

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency’s Department for Research

Cooperation (Sida/SAREC), the programme has now been expanded and made

available to research units not only in the 50 LDCs, but to research units in some 77

countries identified by TWAS as lagging in their science and technology capacity.

Each selected research unit receives a grant of up to US$30,000, renewable for

three years, to strengthen its activities. In 2007, 17 research groups in 13 countries

were supported, comprising 11 recent awards, five renewals and one ongoing.

Research Grants for Groups

nanofiltration system in the chemistry department at

FAST. The time spent waiting for the component parts

to arrive was not wasted, however, as the laboratory was

also able to purchase a miniaturized filtration unit with

commercial nanofilter membranes that were suitable for

training a graduate student, Amadou Maiga, in opera-

tion procedures and data interpretation. Such efforts

were assisted by Abdoulaye Doucouré, a native of

France of Malian descent working as a research manag-

er for a private company in the United States a special-

ist in filtration, purification and separation. He visited

Mali in 2004 as a consultant to Tolofoudye’s team after

receiving a grant from the Transfer of Knowledge

through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN) scheme of the

United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific

Organization (UNESCO). He will return to further assist

FAST staff in implementing their TWAS Research Units

project having been appointed to the TWAS Visiting

Scientists programme (see page 66) in 2007.

Nanofiltration membranes are able to remove species

dissolved in water that are between 0.1 and 1.0 nanome-

tre in diameter, including salts, heavy metal ions and

small organic molecules. However, forcing untreated

water directly through such membranes would quickly

clog them, making them ineffective. Tolofoudye and his

colleagues, therefore, have been analysing certain local

materials for use as ‘pre-filters’ that would remove par-

ticles suspended in the water such as bacteria, dispersed

colloids and larger organic molecules.

“Among the materials we have investigated,” explains

Tolofoudye, “are two types of local clay and pyrolyzed

coconut shells.”

The next step is to challenge five commercial nanofil-

ters with ‘synthetic’ water – a carefully controlled mix-

ture containing known concentrations of ‘contami-

nants’, and then to test the best-performing membranes

with ‘raw’ water taken directly from the Niger River in

Bamako.

“The next area we intend to develop using the TWAS

grant,” says Tolofoudye, “is to compare capacitive

deionization (CDI) with conventional filtration tech-

nologies and link it with solar photovoltaics.” This will

be achieved in collaboration with a Canadian company.

“With CDI,” adds Tolofoudye, “it is critical to remove

uncharged species with a pre-filter. This can be done

using a column filled with activated carbon and again

we have been investigating locally-available materials

such as pyrolyzed cotton straw.”

Initially awarded in 2004, FAST’s TWAS Research

Unit grant has been extended for an additional three

years. This long-term support is now helping Tolo-

foudye and the head of the chemistry department at

FAST, Lassina Sidibé, to plan ahead. They now aim to

enrol five graduate students in their laboratory in an

effort to consolidate local expertise in the strategic field

of water purification and ultimately to create a strong

research platform in the FAST chemistry department

that will focus on water treatment processes and hybrid

solar power/filtration systems.

“We hope that, with support from TWAS and from

dedicated consultants such as Abdoulaye Doucouré, we

can transform this project into a viable research pro-

gramme that can fully benefit talented students in Mali.

We also hope to help Mali reach its goal of providing

safe drinking water to the majority of its population,”

adds Tolofoudye. “By using Mali’s abundant solar ener-

gy resource to create what is currently a scarce resource

in the country – safe drinking water – we believe this

project will contribute significantly to Mali’s socio-eco-

nomic development.”


4 5

The flagship publication of the Academy is the TWAS Newsletter, which is

published four times a year. The TWAS Newsletter – with a print-run of 2,500

copies distributed worldwide – is generously supported by the Kuwait Foun-

dation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS). Its magazine-like format

provides a timely and effective way of keeping TWAS members, as well as

colleagues and partners in other international organizations, up to date with

the work of the Academy and its associated organizations, TWOWS, IAP,

IAMP and COSTIS (see pages 58-61).

On 22 October 2007, more than 230 science journals worldwide simulta-

neously published articles exploring issues related to “poverty and human

development”. The TWAS Newsletter was part of this coordinated effort

designed to examine and advance the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs). The collection of newsletter articles focused on such issues as pub-

lic health and the status of women in the developing world. Articles also

examined broad scientific and technological issues in two distinctly different

places in the developing world: Brazil, which has made substantial progress

in building its scientific capacity, and Africa, which continues to lag behind.

The initiative, organized by the Council of Science Editors (CSE), marked the

largest ever publication initiative of its kind.

The TWAS Year Book 2007, which has been redesigned into a more eye-

catching format, contains short biographies of all TWAS Fellows and Associ-

ate Fellows. It was published in August 2007 and distributed to all members.

Public Information

4 6

TWAS – like all international organizations – needs an effective way of communicating its pro-

grammatic activities to its membership and other interested parties. In the case

of TWAS, this includes the many international organizations and institutions com-

mitted to building scientific capacity in developing countries, as well as govern-

ment ministries, national research councils and academies of science – a list that

is ever-increasing. Within the Academy’s secretariat, such efforts are the respon-

sibility of the Public Information Office.

In addition, the fourth edition of Profiles of Institu-

tions for Scientific Exchange and Training in the South

was published in October 2007 in collaboration with

the Pakistan-based Commission on Science and Tech-

nology for Sustainable Development in the South

(COMSATS). This latest edition, which comes with a

searchable CD, contains details of 485 research institu-

tions from 65 developing countries.

The third TWAS Research Updates, featuring articles

on neuroscience in Brazil and geosciences in central

Africa, was also published in 2007. TWAS Research

Updates highlights research being carried out by scien-

tists in the South and brings their work to the notice of

a wider audience, including decision makers.

In 2007, TWAS published the first three volumes of a

five-volume series highlighting successful scientific

institutions in the developing world, Excellence in Sci-

ence: Profiles of Research Institutions in Developing

Countries. The project, funded by the David and Lucile

Packard Foundation, examines the factors that have

helped to build and sustain these research institutions –

in India, Madagascar and Tunisia – so that their

diverse case histories can be replicated elsewhere.

In a plenary lecture to more than 2,000 delegates

attending the annual meeting of the American Associa-

tion for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San

Francisco, United States, on 18 February 2007, TWAS

executive director, Mohamed Hassan, illustrated the

growing gap between such scientifically advanced

developing nations as China and other countries that

are scientifically less privileged, mainly in sub-Saharan

Africa. “Contradictory trends,” said Hassan, “are open-

ing up a serious divide among developing countries

that is compounding the scientific and technological

divide that continues to exist between the developed

and developing world. This is particularly the case in

sub-Saharan Africa, the region of the world that can

least afford to be science-poor.”

The success of the AAAS lecture led to requests from

two leading international journals, Science and Cell, for

commentaries examining these gaps in scientific and

technological capacity and highlighting ways of tack-


4 7

ling them. Together, these outreach activities have com-

bined to give the Academy unprecedented visibility

among the global scientific community and a far broad-

er audience than the Academy has had in the past.

As a result of the 2004 TWNSO workshop on medic-

inal plants, a network of South-based researchers was

created. Members are provided with updated informa-

tion on topical issues through the distribution of an e-

newsletter. Apart from this newsletter, TWAS also pro-

duces a two-page Fellowships Bulletin, issued twice in

2007, the IAP Bulletin every three months and the IAMP

Newsletter, also issued twice in 2007, all of which are

disseminated widely and made available on the web-

sites of the respective associated organizations.

In addition to its ongoing responsibilities, the TWAS

Public Information Office also maintains the Acade-

my’s website, provides editorial and technical assis-

tance for the websites of the Academy’s associated orga-

nizations, and prepares booklets, leaflets, brochures and

posters detailing the activities of TWAS and its partner

organizations.

CITIES, SCIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITYIn 2007, for the first time in history,

more than half of the world’s popula-

tion was living in cities. Currently, one

million people across the globe

migrate to cities each week. And most

of this growth of urban centres is occurring in the developing world. Indeed,

sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s most rapidly urbanizing region.

These statistics highlight the urgent need to address such sustainability

issues as access to safe drinking water and sanitation, access to healthcare

and adequate housing, traffic regulation and air pollution, to name just a few.

In response, TWAS partnered with the United Nations Development Pro-

gramme’s Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (UNDP-SSC) and the Uni-

ted Nations University - Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), based in

Japan, to sponsor a workshop on ‘Cities, Science and Sustainability’. The event,

held in Trieste, Italy, on 20-22 September 2007, brought together 31 scientists

and other development workers from 19 countries in the South. During the

workshop, 18 case studies were presented, each highlighting a successful pro-

ject carried out in a city in a developing country. In addition, the workshop fea-

tured four special presentations, including one from Hans van Ginkel (TWAS

Associate Fellow 2005), who spoke on ‘Towards Sustainable Urban Futures:

Urbanization in an Era of Globalization and Environmental Change’.

Partnerships

4 8

As with other UNDP-SSC-sponsored workshops, the

case studies presented at the meeting will be published

in the Sharing Innovative Experiences series and made

available on the internet (see tcdc.undp.org/widenew/

sharingsearch.asp) and distributed free of charge

throughout the South.

CAPACITY BUILDING WORSHOPSIn 2006, TWAS teamed up with FORGEA-International,

a geo-mining and environmental training and coopera-

tion centre based in Sardinia, Italy, to run four work-

shops. The first of these workshops, on the theme of

‘Capacity Building in Environment-related Issues in

Geo-mining and Coastal Zone Management’ was held in

late 2006, while the three others were held in early

2007. These included two courses on ‘Capacity Building

in Environment-related Issues: Recovery and Recycling

of Construction Materials’ held on 22 January - 2 Feb-

ruary and on 19-30 March, and a second course on geo-

mining and coastal zone management held on 26 Feb-

ruary - 9 March.

In total, the four workshops, held at the Università

per il Sulcis Iglesiente, in Monteponi, near Iglesias, Sar-

dinia, provided state-of-the-art training for 86 students

and middle-level professionals from North Africa, the

Middle East, the Balkans and eastern Europe.

Maurizio Iaccarino (TWAS Associate Fellow 1997),

scientific coordinator for the series of workshops, says:

“The ultimate aim of these workshops is to help build a

critical mass of trained personnel in the target coun-

tries who can implement environmentally-friendly pro-

cedures for extracting, using and recycling mineral

resources. What makes these workshops different, is

that they not only include sessions taught by the lectur-

ers but that the participants also present their own case

studies and so learn from one another. This is critical, as

it helps the participants gain a wider understanding of

the challenges and the solutions in developing-country

conditions. It also helps participants to broaden their

networks of contacts in their own areas of expertise.”

The project , sponsored by the Italian Ministry of For-

eign Affairs, ended with a high-level forum on 16-17

November 2007, also held in Sardinia. The forum was

attended by some 138 participants and involved 25

speakers, including Famiano Crucianelli, undersecretary

of state, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Minister

Renzo Rosso, responsible for multilateral cooperation at

the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Giuseppina

T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 _ C O L L A B O R A T I V E P R O G R A M M E S

Crescimanno, head of science section, UNESCO-Venice.

Geology professors from Germany, Greece, Iraq, Italy,

Spain and Turkey also presented short overviews of

their work and voiced their appreciation of the training

workshops and other TWAS activities. The forum pro-

vided a good opportunity to present TWAS and its activ-

ities to a large audience of local, regional and national

government officials, as well as scientists from various

target countries.

For additional information on FORGEA-International,

visit: forgea.atspace.com.

BIOTECH COLLABORATIONLaunched in late 2005, the TWAS-International Centre

for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB)

joint programme on tolerance to abiotic stress in plants

is now in full swing.

The programme is designed to create small research

networks, each composed of two to four institutions, one

of which must be in a least developed country (LDC) or

other science- and technology-lagging country (S&TLC).

In 2007, the five selected networks received the first

instalment of their three-year funding. Among the con-

ditions of the grant award are that most of the money

must be spent in the participating LDC or S&TLC and

that young researchers in these countries must receive

training, preferably by allowing them to visit the parti-

cipating laboratories in the more scientifically advanced

countries.

Among the proposals selected were those headed by:

• Andres Zurita Silva, Centre for Advanced Studies in

Arid Zones, Universidad de la Serena, Chile, working on

‘Tolerance strategies of Quinoa plants under salt stress’

with collaborators from Argentina, Mali and Italy;

• Konstantin Skryabin, Centre “Bioengineering”, Russ-

ian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, working on

‘Use of bacterial H+ pyrophosphatases for the develop-

ment of salt-tolerant plants’ with a collaborator from

Uzbekistan;

• Jennifer Thomson, Department of Molecular and Cell

Biology, University of Cape Town, South Africa, work-

C O L L A B O R A T I V E P R O G R A M M E S _ T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7

5 0

• International Workshop on Women for Science, Bei-

jing, China, 16-17 August 2007;

• XIV International Bat Research Conference (IBRC)

and 37th North American Symposium on Bat Research

(NASBR), Merida, Mexico, 19-23 August 2007;

• 8th African Crop Science Society Conference, El-Minia,

Egypt, 27-31 October 2007;

• International Workshop on Infrared Spectroscopy

Applied to Biological and Biomimetic Systems (from the

Isolated Molecule to the Cell), Buenos Aires, Argentina,

5-7 November 2007; and

• CHEMRAWN XII – The Role of Chemistry in Sustain-

able Agriculture and Human Well-

being in Africa, Stellenbosch,

South Africa, 2-5 December

2007.


ing on ‘The development of maize and other crops toler-

ant to abiotic stresses’ with collaborators from Kenya

and Zimbabwe;

• Khaled Masmoudi, Centre de Biotechnologie de Sfax,

Tunisia, working on ‘Over-expression of genes encoding

ion transport proteins as a strategy to improve salt- and

drought-tolerance in wheat’ with collaborators from

Ghana and Syria; and

• Sabina Vidal Macchi, Laboratorio de Biología Molecular

Vegetal, Universidad de la República Iguá, Montevideo,

Uruguay, working on ‘The identification of key genes

involved in salt and osmotic stress tolerance in model

plants’ with collaborators from Argentina, Nicaragua and

Hungary.

For additional information on ICGEB, visit:

www.icgeb.org.

SUPPORT FOR SCIENTIFIC MEETINGSIn 2007, TWAS provided support for 23 scientific meet-

ings in 15 countries. Among the meetings supported

were:

• The Asian New and Renewable Energy Technology

Symposium, ANRET 2007, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 7-9

July 2007;

• International Research Conference on Biodiversity

and the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources,

Kigali, Rwanda, 23-24 July 2007;

• International Workshop on Renewable Energy for

Sustainable Development in Africa, Nsukka, Nigeria, 22-

24 July 2007;

• 17th International Congress of Arachnology, Sao Paulo,

Brazil, 5-10 August 2007;

• II Congreso Latinoamericano de Estudiantes de Micro-

biologia y Parasitologia, Lima, Peru, 12-17 August 2007;

5 1

TWAS REGIONAL OFFICE FOR EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE PACIFICHeadquarters: Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, ChinaThe TWAS Regional Office for East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific

(TWAS-ROESEAP) held an international workshop on ‘Women for Science’

on 16-17 August 2007. Partners in this event included CAS and the Third

World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS), as well as the Chi-

nese Academy of Engineering, the China Association for Science and Tech-

nology, and the All China Women’s Federation. The workshop was attended

by 70 women scientists from 18 countries.

In mid-October, the Regional Office teamed up with the World Meteor-

ological Organization (WMO) to host the Sixth CAS-TWAS-WMO Forum,

this time on the ‘Design of the Earth System Dynamic Model’. The meeting,

held in Beijing, was attended by more than 100 participants, including sci-

entists from Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia,

Regional Offices

5 2

The strength of an organization such as TWAS depends on providing information to scientists

throughout the developing world. The scientific excellence of the Academy’s new

members, the fellowships awarded and the research programmes funded depend

on the Academy reaching the maximum number of candidates and then selecting

the best. To help with this exercise, TWAS has established a suite of regional

offices throughout the South. Among the activities shared by the five Regional

Offices are the identification and nomination of scientists for TWAS membership,

TWAS Young Affiliate membership, TWAS Prizes and TWAS Regional Prizes, the

organization of Regional Conferences for Young Scientists, and awareness-raising

of TWAS activities among scientists in the respective region.

the Netherlands, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand, UK,

USA and Vietnam.

On 8 November 2007 in Beijing, TWAS-ROESEAP

also organized the Fourth Meeting of Chinese TWAS

Fellows. The meeting was attended by more than 70

Academy members from across China. The aim of the

meeting was to promote the activities and strategy of

TWAS in China. Indeed, TWAS-ROESEAP is active in

the TWAS-CAS South-South Fellowship programme

and the TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme at Cen-

tres of Excellence in the South.

In addition, two issues of newsletters and a docu-

ment related to China-TWAS cooperation in Chinese,

both in paper and electronic format, were published

and distributed, as well as a Regional Office newsletter

in English.

• coordinator: Chunli Bai (TWAS Fellow 1997)

• email: [email protected], [email protected]

• website: www.beijing.twas.org

TWAS REGIONAL OFFICE FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Headquarters: African Academy of Sciences (AAS),Nairobi, KenyaIn 2007, the TWAS Regional Office for Sub-Saharan

Africa (TWAS-ROSSA) organized two public lectures.

The first, which commemorated the fourth anniversary

of the late Thomas Risely Odhiambo (TWAS Founding

Fellow), took place on 14 September 2007 in collabora-

tion with Maseno University, Kenya. The lecture, pre-

sented by Bethwell A. Ogot, professor emeritus history,

Maseno University, and chancellor, Moi University,

Kenya, was entitled: ‘Who, if anyone, owns the past?

Reflections on the meaning of public history’. The sec-

ond public lecture was presented by Salif Diop, United

Nations Environment Programme, Senegal, on: ‘Key


5 3

challenges and priorities for achieving the Millennium

Development Goals on water and sanitation’.

The Second TWAS-ROSSA Regional Conference for

Young Scientists took place on 3-6 December 2007. The

theme of the conference was ‘Mentoring Young Scientists

for the Innovative Application of Research and Develop-

ment in Africa’. The meeting was attended by 65 partici-

pants, including researchers, lecturers, students, policy-

makers and civil society representatives from 23 countries.

The conference provided young and senior scientists with

a platform to take stock of advances in the application of

research and development in Africa, as well as to exchange

ideas and map the way forward for innovative networking

mechanisms among scientists within the region.

TWAS-ROSSA also strives to support the activities of

TWAS National Chapters in Africa by providing funds

to one such chapter each year. The Ghana Chapter

received capacity building support during 2006-2007,

while the Zimbabwe Chapter is receiving support during

2007-2008.

TWAS-ROSSA, in partnership with the African Acad-

emy of Sciences (AAS), also published the regular four

issues a year of the peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary and

indexed journal, Discovery and Innovation.

With the increase in TWAS-ROSSA activities, an

e-newsletter is now produced biannually, in June and

December. TWAS-ROSSA also has a website embedded

on the AAS website that helps enhance the visibility of

TWAS and the Regional Office.

• coordinator: Iba Kone (acting director, AAS)

• email: [email protected]

• website: www.nairobi.twas.org


5 4

● Rio de Janeiro

● Alexandria

● Nairobi

● Beijing

● Bangalore

TWAS ARAB REGIONAL OFFICEHeadquarters: Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, EgyptThe TWAS Arab Regional Office (TWAS-ARO) is linked

closely with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s Centre for Spe-

cial Studies and Programmes (CSSP). During 2007,

TWAS-ARO organized three workshops at the Biblio-

theca Alexandrina. The first, on nanotechnology, was

held on 2-3 September and was attended by 90 partici-

pants. The ten sessions featured lectures by five eminent

speakers, including C.N.R. Rao, TWAS’s immediate past

president.

A ‘School on Algebraic Approach to Differential Equa-

tions: Ecole Mathématique’ was held on 12-25 Novem-

ber, co-organized by TWAS’s hosts in Trieste, the Abdus

Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics

(ICTP). Finally, on 8-13 December, a six-day bioinfor-

matics workshop on ‘Computer Methods in Molecular

Biology’ aimed to create bridges of interaction between

biologists, biochemists and computer science engineers

by exposing them to real cutting edge molecular biology

and computational techniques.

TWAS-ARO also continued its policy of promoting the

public awareness of science through two public lectures.

First, Mostafa El-Sayed, director, Laser Dynamic Labora-

tory, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, presented a

talk on ‘Small is Different: The properties of material as

its size is reduced to the nanometre scale’, on 4 Septem-

ber, which was attended by more than 60 people. The

following day, a lecture for publishers, ‘Elsevier’s View

on Scientific Publishing’ presented by Carl Schwarz,

director, International Publishing Development, Elsevier

– the world’s leading publisher of science and health

information – attracted more than 40 people.

5 5


Then, on 23-24 October, TWAS-ARO and the Biblio-

theca Alexandrina hosted a conference on ‘Women in

Science’. The large number of participants heard pre-

sentations from more than 50 eminent invited speakers.

Among the Regional Office’s other activities are the

addition of a TWAS-ARO section to the CSSP electronic

newsletter, the maintenance of the TWAS-ARO website,

which is used to announce conferences, lectures and

workshops, and the ongoing development of a direct-

ory/database of Arab scientists who are active in the

Arab region.

• coordinator: Ismael Serageldin (TWAS Fellow 2001)


• website: www.bibalex.org/TWASARO

TWAS REGIONAL OFFICE FOR CENTRAL AND SOUTH ASIAHeadquarters: Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for AdvancedScientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, IndiaThe TWAS Regional Office for Central and South Asia

(TWAS-ROCASA) has established a new joint pro-

gramme, the TWAS-JNCASR Summer Research Fel-

lowship Programme (SRFP), aimed at promoting and

encouraging undergraduate students in the region to

visit renowned institutions in India. Five students

were selected in 2007: one from Azerbaijan, one from

Bangladesh, two from Iran and one from Sri Lanka.

The Regional Office also published a ‘Directory of Fel-

lows’ that features the biographical and contact details

of TWAS Fellows in the region.

The Regional Office also issued periodical press releas-

es highlighting TWAS events and announcements, for

example in Current Science, the journal of the Indian

Academy of Sciences.

• coordinator: Varadachari Krishnan (TWAS Fellow 1996)


• website: www.bangalore.twas.org

TWAS REGIONAL OFFICE FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEANHeadquarters: Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilIn 2007, the TWAS Regional Office for Latin America

and the Caribbean (TWAS-ROLAC) appointed five

regional TWAS Fellows to a consultative scientific

council that oversees nominations for TWAS Young

Affiliate membership and the TWAS Regional Prize.

In addition, the five members of this committee pre-

sented overviews of science in their countries and on

scientific cooperation with other countries in Latin

America at a conference organized by ABC in Rio de

Janeiro on ‘Science in Brazil and Latin American and

Brazil/Latin American and Caribbean Scientific Coop-

eration’. The conference was held on 24-26 January

2007.

TWAS-ROLAC also awarded its second Young Scien-

tist Prizes in 2007. The prize of US$2,000 was awarded

to young scientists working in the biological sciences,

mathematics, neurosciences and physics.


5 6

In December 2007, the Second Regional Conference

for Young Scientists, this time focusing on chemistry,

mathematics and physics, was held. Some 27 young sci-

entists from the region attended.

TWAS-ROLAC is also active in contacting TWAS

Fellows in the region and seeking nominations for

TWAS membership and awards, has updated the

Regional Office’s homepage, and supports TWAS and

the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and

Technological Development (CNPq) in the implemen-

tation of the TWAS-CNPq South-South Fellowships

programme.

• coordinator: Carlos A. Aragão de Carvalho (TWAS Fel-

low 2002)

• email: [email protected]

• website: www.twas-rolac.org

REGIONAL PRIZESIn 2006, TWAS instigated three regional prizes of

US$3,000 each that are awarded annually on a rotating

basis. In 2007, the Regional Prizes for the Public Under-

standing and Promotion of Science were awarded to:

• TWAS-ARO: Adnan Hamoui (TWAS Fellow 1988),

Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences

and editor-in-chief, Arab edition of Scientific American.

• TWAS-ROCASA: Pervez Hoodbhoy, professor of

nuclear physics and chair of the physics department at

Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

• TWAS-ROLAC: Roberto Lent, professor of neuro-

sciences and director of the Institute of Biomedical Sci-

ences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• TWAS-ROSSA: Christina Scott, a freelance science

writer and the first African news editor of the web por-

tal Science and Development Network (SciDev.Net).


5 7

THIRD WORLD ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE (TWOWS)With more than 3,000 members, TWOWS is the largest organization of

women scientists in the world.

TWOWS’s flagship post-graduate fellowship programme, sponsored by

the Swedish International Development Agency’s (Sida) Department for

Research Cooperation (SAREC), for young women scientists from sub-Saha-

ran Africa and least developed countries was launched in 1998 and continues

to grow. In 2007, 203 applications were received from 26 countries, of which

21 from 14 countries were selected.

Another two young women scientists completed their higher degrees in

2007, bringing the total since the programme began to 70.

In 2007, Sida-SAREC also renewed its funding for next three years,

although the new guidelines mean that awards will be restricted to candi-

dates seeking higher degrees in the basic sciences (biology, chemistry, math-

ematics and physics).

Among TWOWS’s other 2007 activities was a ‘Workshop on Women for

Science’ co-organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and held in

Beijing, China, on 16-17 August. Scholars from more than a dozen develop-

ing countries addressed issues concerning women in science and technology,

including scientific careers for women, how to attract women into scientific

careers, factors behind the success of women scientists and how to encourage

the understanding and use of scientific knowledge by women in rural areas.

The TWAS Family

5 8

At its headquarters in Trieste, Italy, TWAS now hosts the secretariats of four other international

organizations dedicated to serving the needs of science and scientists in the

developing world and promoting indigenous scientific capacity as a fundamental

component of sustainable economic development.

Highlights of the 2007 activities of these organizations follow.

This meeting followed the meeting of the TWOWS

executive board, which, among other decisions,

approved the organization’s Strategic Plan for 2007-

2010. The Strategic Plan is now being circulated to

potential donors. During the meeting, Fang Xin

(TWOWS vice president for the Asia and Pacific

region) officially announced that China had agreed to

host the next TWOWS Fourth General Assembly and

International Conference.

For additional information about TWOWS, see

www.twows.org or contact [email protected].

INTERACADEMY PANEL ON INTERNATIONAL ISSUES (IAP)IAP, an umbrella organization for the world’s merit-

based academies of science, currently coordinates pro-

grammes devoted to capacity building for science acad-

emies, women and child health issues, science educa-

tion, water resource management, biosecurity, access to

scientific information and natural disaster mitigation.

Following IAP’s 5th General Assembly in Alexandria,

Egypt, in December 2006, IAP changed its way of fund-

ing its programmes away from appointing a particular

academy to lead the scheme. Under the new regula-

tions, IAP invites proposals from member academies,

groups of academies, or regional networks of academies

that are then assessed by a peer review committee.

Also following the meeting in Egypt, the first meeting

of the newly elected IAP executive committee was host-

ed by TWAS in February 2007, and the second was

hosted by the Australian Academy of Science in Sep-

tember 2007 in Canberra.

During this meeting, the Montenegrin Academy of

Sciences and Arts, the Mauritius Academy of Science

and Technology and the Sudanese National Academy of

Science were accepted as IAP members. The Network

of Academies of Science in OIC (Organization of Islam-

ic Conference) Countries (NASIC) also joined IAP as an

observer, bringing IAP membership to 97.

IAP’s scientific programmatic agenda for 2008 was

also adopted at the meeting in Australia. Based on the

new competitive review process, the following propos-

als will receive funding:

Scientific Communication for Young Scientists:

InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP).

Promoting Access To and Use of Digital Knowledge

Resources and Infrastructures: Focus on Countries with

Developing and Transitional Economies: US National

Academies of Science.

Regional Science Education Programme in Asia and

Pacific: Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia

5 9


(AASA) and Federation of Asian Scientific Academies

(FASAS).

Regional Programme on Science Education: Inter-

American Network of Academies of Science (IANAS).

Promoting Best Practices In Science Education In

Sub-Saharan Africa: Uganda National Academy of Sci-

ence and the Network of African Science Academies

(NASAC).

Bridging Water Research and Management: Enhanc-

ing Global Capacity: Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

Biosecurity: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and

Sciences (KNAW).

In addition, IAP’s flagship programme, Capacity

Building for Science Academies, which pays particular

attention to building the capacity of science academies

in developing countries, will continue to be led by

TWAS. A key objective of the programme is to

strengthen the role of academies in providing advice to

governments on issues of national and global concern.

For additional information about IAP, see www.inter-

academies.net or contact [email protected].

INTERACADEMY MEDICAL PANEL (IAMP) IAMP membership currently comprises 64 medical

academies and science academies with medical divi-

sions that are committed to improving health world-

wide.

In April 2007, the IAMP executive committee met in

Trieste to begin drafting a Strategic Action Plan for use

in seeking funding for IAMP and its programmes. The

Strategic Action Plan was finalized and printed by the

end of the year and is now being circulated to potential

donors.

Concerning IAMP’s programme on ‘Emerging Infec-

tions’, the Chinese Academy of Engineering hosted a

workshop in Shanghai on 10-16 June 2007. The work-

shop was attended by 37 participants from 10 coun-

tries. A follow-up report highlighted matters of health

policy that require further consideration and action by

policy makers, and identified areas where more

research is required.

In addition, eight academies involved in the

progamme on ‘Reducing Perinatal Mortality’, led by Jan

Lindsten of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences,

attended a workshop in Trieste on 14-15 December.

Academy representatives learned how a needs assess-

ment study in Tanzania was carried out and are using

6 0


this experience to design their own national needs

assessment study plans. Meanwhile, donors are coming

forward to implement the strategy outlined in the Tan-

zanian study.

Evidence of the high regard in which IAMP is held –

and the potential the network has for instigating

improvements in healthcare in developing countries –

was forthcoming at the end of the year. On 27 Decem-

ber 2007, the Italian government signed into law an

additional annual contribution to TWAS of €500,000

specifically to support IAMP activities.

For additional information on IAMP, see www.iamp-

online.org or contact [email protected].

CONSORTIUM ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION FOR THE SOUTH (COSTIS)COSTIS was derived from the Third World Network of

Scientific Organizations (TWNSO), created by TWAS

in 1988, following a decision by the TWNSO General

Assembly and the political backing of the foreign min-

isters of the Group of 77 (G77) in 2006. With its mem-

bership of ministries of science and technology, nation-

al research foundations, national research councils,

academies of science and science-based private-sector

institutions, COSTIS aims to build on and enhance

TWNSO’s efforts at promoting science and technology

for sustainable development to governments in the

South.

In particular, COSTIS aims to promote science-based

development through the integration of science, tech-

nology and innovation into national economic develop-

ment plans; to encourage interaction among existing

centres of scientific excellence in the developing world;

and to support the creation of new international centres

of excellence, especially in critical areas of science-based

development related to energy, environment and eco-

nomic development.

Full details of the operational activities of COSTIS are

being established by a high-level task force that met

twice in 2007 to discuss such issues as the COSTIS

statutes and start-up programmatic activities.

The interim COSTIS secretariat is hosted by TWAS

in Trieste.

For additional information about COSTIS, see

costis.g77.org or contact [email protected].


A P P E N D I C E S

2007 in Figures

6 4

In 2007, under the TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme, TWAS appoint-

ed 17 developing-world scientists as associates for a three-year period, includ-

ing scientists from Cameroon, Cuba and Iran. In addition, 44 associates trav-

elled to carry out collaborative research at research institutions in nine coun-

tries in the South: Argentina, Botswana, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Pakistan,

Thailand and Vietnam. The TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme is kindly

supported by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).

Geographical area Awarded HostedAfrica and Arab region 19 3

Asia and Pacific region 18 23

Latin America and the Caribbean 7 18

TOTAL 44 44

In 2007, TWAS provided support for 23 Scientific Meetings in 15 developing

countries. Supported meetings covered a range of disciplines, from arachnol-

ogy and advanced materials to renewable energies, the sustainable use of nat-

ural resources and natural product chemistry.

Geographical Area TOTALAfrica and Arab region 6

Asia and Pacific region 7

Latin America and the Caribbean 10

TOTAL 23

In 2007, 16 developing-world scientists from 10 countries, including four least

developed countries (LDCs), received TWAS Fellowships for Research and

Advanced Training. These were hosted by institutions in 10 countries: Benin,

Brazil, China, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Taiwan-China and

Tunisia.

Geographical area Awarded HostedAfrica and Arab region 10 3

Asia and Pacific region 2 10

Latin America and the Caribbean 4 3

TOTAL 16 16

In 2007, 46 TWAS Research Grants of up to US$10,000 each were awarded to researchers in some

21 developing countries. Among these, 16 grants went to scientists working in nine countries in

sub-Saharan Africa and another five grants went to scientists in two least developed countries in

Asia (Bangladesh and Nepal). The TWAS Research Grants programme is kindly supported by the

Department for Research Cooperation of the Swedish International Development Cooperation

Agency (Sida/SAREC).

Geographical area Biology Chemistry Mathematics Physics TOTALAfrica and Arab region 7 3 2 4 16

Asia and Pacific region 5 2 3 4 14

Latin America and the Caribbean 8 3 0 5 16

TOTAL 20 8 5 13 46

In 2007, 17 TWAS Research Units were funded in 13 science and technology-lagging countries

(S&TLCs) with grants of up to US$30,000 each. Of these, 11 were first-time awards. The TWAS

Research Units in S&TLCs programme is kindly funded by Sida/SAREC.

Geographical area Biology Chemistry Mathematics Physics TOTALAfrica and Arab region 6 5 0 1 12

Asia and Pacific region 1 3 0 0 4

Latin America and the Caribbean 1 0 0 0 1

TOTAL 8 8 0 1 17

T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 _ A P P E N D I C E S

6 5

TWAS’s South-South Fellowships are awarded in collaboration with partner organizations in a

number of developing countries, including the National Council for Scientific and Technological

Development (CNPq), Brazil; the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China; the Council for Sci-

entific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Government

of India, and the S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences and the Indian Association for the

Cultivation of Science (IACS), India; and the National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology

(CEMB) and the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) in Pakistan. In

2007, TWAS received a total of 170 fellowship applications, of which 105 were awarded – the high-

est number yet – and 96 were accepted.

Co-sponsoring organization Postgraduate fellowship Postdoctoral fellowship Visiting scholarAwarded Accepted Awarded Accepted Awarded Accepted

CNPq, Brazil 16 13 7 6 - -

CAS, China 16 15 12 12 15 15

CSIR*, India 10 8 13 13 - -

DBT, India 1 1 4 4 - -

IACS, India 0 0 0 0 - -

S.N. Bose, India 1 0 0 0 - -

CEMB, Pakistan 1 0 0 0 - -

ICCBS, Pakistan 3 3 6 6 - -

TOTAL 48 40 42 41 15 15

* Data for CSIR includes applications received in 2006 and 2007.

FINANCEThe total amount of funds received for activities in 2007 was US$3,007,908. The main contribu-

tions were: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy (US$2,066,662); the Department for Research

Cooperation (SAREC) of the Swedish International Development Cooperation (Sida)

(US$791,313); illycafè, Trieste (US$100,000); and the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of

Sciences (KFAS) (US$49,980).

At 31 December 2007, the TWAS Endowment Fund stood at US$10,617,227, while the target was

increased from US$15 million to US$25. Donations during 2007 totalled US$352,402, including

US$218,584 from Brazil, US$25,064 from Iran, US$80,000 from Nigeria, US$25,000 from the Con-

sejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT), Mexico, and other small contributions amount-

ing to US$3,754. Interest in 2007 totalled US$714,663.

6 6

A P P E N D I C E S _ T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7

The TWAS Research Professors in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) programme was launched

in 2005. In 2007, two TWAS members visited their respective host institution.

TWAS Fellow Country of residence Field of expertise Host institution Year of appointmentBrian Kerry U.K. Agricultural sciences Department of Zoology, 2006

Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Manuel Limonta Cuba Health sciences Hubert Kairuki Memorial University, 2006Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Akier Assanta Mafu Canada Food sciences Institute of Applied Techniques 2006in Food Processing,

Kimbese City, Bas-Congo, Congo D.R.

Pierluigi Bonora Italy Chemical sciences Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, 2007University Cheikh Anta Diop,

Dakar, Senegal

TWAS Fellow Country of residence Field of expertise Host institution in LDC Year of appointmentElly N. Sabiiti Uganda Agricultural sciences National University of Rwanda, 2006

Butare, Rwanda

Edemariam Tsega Canada Medical sciences Gondar College of Medical Sciences, 2005University of Gondar, Ethiopia

The ICSU-TWAS-UNESCO-UNU/IAS Visiting Scientist Programme is a joint initiative of TWAS,

the International Council for Science (ICSU), the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scien-

tific Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations University - Institute for Advanced Studies

(UNU/IAS). It enables eminent scientists from developing and developed countries to visit insti-

tutions and research groups in developing countries. In 2007, four scientists travelled to their

selected host institution, three of whom were appointed in 2006 and another who was one of six

scientists appointed in 2007.

TWAS FINANCIAL STATUS REPORT FOR 2007 (IN US$)

INCOME1 Received TotalMinistry of Foreign Affairs, Italy 2,066,662Department for Research Cooperation (SAREC) of the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) 791,313illycaffè, Trieste 99,953Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) 49,980

3,007,908Previous year balance brought forward 1,595,604Previous year adjustment 236,449Interest income on Research Grants funds 195,826Interest income on other funds 714,663Miscellaneous income 17,025

5,767,475

EXPENDITURE A B C D (B + C) E (A - D)Budgeted Disbursed Commitments Total Budget

Expenditure AvailableA) Awards and Prizesa) Trieste Science Prize 100,000 100,000 100,000 - b) TWAS Prizes 80,000 80,000 80,000c) Prizes for Young Scientists 40,000 46,000 6,000 52,000 (12,000)Sub-Total for (1) 220,000 146,000 86,000 232,000 (12,000)

B) Research Grants and Spare Parts a) Research Grants 800,000 444,271 426,723 870,994 (70,994)b) Spare Parts 10,000 10,000Sub-Total for (2) 810,000 444,271 426,723 870,994 (60,994)

C) Associateships and Fellowshipsa) Fellowship Programmes 400,000 20,155 370,357 390,512 9,488b) Associateship & Professorship Programmes 220,000 35,471 74,928 110,399 109,601Sub-Total for (3) 620,000 55,626 445,285 500,911 119,089

D) Meetingsa) Council and General Meeting 100,000 59,164 90,837 150,001 (50,001)b) Scientific Meetings in the South 70,000 2,948 38,000 40,948 29,052Sub-Total for (4) 170,000 62,112 128,837 190,949 (20,949)

E) Publications 220,000 246,040 16,604 262,644 (42,644)

F) Joint Projectsa) Regional Offices 125,000 27,500 17,500 45,000 80,000b) TWNSO/COSTIS 50,000 86,563 11,051 97,614 (47,614)c) TWOWS 70,000 6,102 6,102 63,898d) TWAS-ICGEB Joint Plant Biotechnology Programme 50,000 52,632 52,632 (2,632)e) Packard Foundation Project 40,000 14,074 22,876 36,950 3,050f) Joint Visiting Scientist Programme 30,000 4,244 15,191 19,435 10,565g) UNU project 8,000 5,646 5,646 2,354Sub-Total for (6) 373,000 196,761 66,618 263,379 109,621

G) Operational Expenditurea) Staff Costs 900,000 1,033,939 1,755 1,035,694 (135,694)b) Communications 70,000 44,938 44,938 25,062c) Travel 45,000 49,626 49,626 (4,626)d) Library, office and other supplies 90,000 43,631 3,903 47,534 42,466e) Other general operating expenses 35,000 17,663 593 18,256 16,744Sub-Total for (7) 1,140,000 1,189,797 6,251 1,196,048 (56,048)

Total 3,553,000 2,340,607 1,176,318 3,516,925 36,075

Operational balance (Total income minus total budget) 2,250,550Less: interest income on other funds transferred to Endowment Fund 714,663Excess (shortfall) of income over expenditure(Total income minus total expenditure under column D) 1,535,887

1 For presentation purposes, all contributions are expressed in US dollars and have been converted using the UN official rate of exchange valid at the time the contributions were received.

T W A S A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 _ A P P E N D I C E S

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TWAS Annual Report 2007

Peter McGrath: Project Coordinator/Writer/Editor

Daniel Schaffer: Head, Public Information Office

Gisela Isten: Managing Editor

Tasia Asakawa: Assistant Editor

Graphic Design

Studio Link, Trieste (www.studio-link.it)

Printing

Stella Arti Grafiche, Trieste

Documents

annual report 2007 - TWAS · 2013. 9. 13. · Jacob Palis President TWAS. FOREWORD_ TWAS ANNUAL REPORT 2007 closely not only with our partners in the South but also with our colleagues